Grand Coda
by Omgitsbella
Summary: A year has passed since the savior incident. Nero is struggling to cope with his new life with the high expectations of everyone around him. As the stress of who they want him to be and who he should be weighs down on him, who will he turn to? D/N.
1. Silver and Gold

It had been a little over a year since the Savior incident. The time seemed to be so much longer than that though and all it once it felt as if it wasn't enough time to push past everything that had happened then.

Nero stood out on the balcony to his room, watching the citizens of Fortuna still attempting to rebuild their once glorious city. The ruins of the city were becoming smaller and smaller with each passing day. Soon it would almost look as nothing had ever happened there.

Almost.

Nero could almost see through the destruction to what the city once looked like. Nero closed his eyes, letting the warm fall breeze roll over his skin, his silver hair moving perfectly with the breeze. He could see every immaculate detail of the city behind his eyes. The perfectly set stones to the streets, the intricately carved stone and marble of the buildings. The fountain at the center and how the water coming from it would glisten in the sun, the water turning to liquid gold.

Nero let out a breath he almost didn't realize he had been holding in. His eyes opened, the image of the city flickering away quickly. _It will never look the same. _Nero thought as he turned away from the balcony heading back inside his room.

Once inside Nero left the doors to the balcony open, welcoming the breeze, regardless of how warm it was, inside his room bringing with it the smell of freshly fallen leaves. A white jacket trimmed with gold was laying on his bed. Nero looked down at himself, the finely pressed white button down shirt clinging tightly to his frame along with a frame fitting pair of white pants with the same gold lining. Nero ran his human hand though his hair as he tried to suppress the sigh that he was holding inside. He looked down at his other arm, completely bandaged in white, just how it used to be. The rough cast brushed against his Devil Bringer constantly, an irritation that Nero pushed to the furthest corner of his mind.

Nero grabbed the jacket off of his bed, slowly sliding his arms into the sleeves, taking a moment longer on his arm with the Devil Bringer, not wanting to get the cast caught on the delicate fabric. _Why should I even care?_ Nero thought as he buttoned up the jacket, trying to avoid looking at himself in the full length mirror in the corner of his bedroom. It was something he has been asking himself a lot more frequently lately. A lot more than he really even wanted too admit. The only thought that came to his mind, the only one possible reason he could even think about why he was doing this. _Kyrie. _Nero felt his chest tighten at the thought of her. All of this was for her, everything he had ever done had been for her. The pain in his chest became even tighter, Nero winced, trying not to bring his hand to his chest in some form of comfort.

Nero brushed the thoughts away, knowing that it was time for him to head to the Chapel for the ceremony. Nero leaned down to reach under his bed, he felt around for a brief moment for his hand clutched onto a long case. Nero grabbed the handle pulling the case out from under the bed. Nero undid the latches quickly, not having opened the case in weeks, a small rush coming over him. The lid came open, flipping back onto his bed. Inside the case laid Red Queen. Nero ran his hand over her, letting the cool metal touch his flesh. Nero's eyes caught the other sword in the case, resting his eyes on it he took in a sharp breath; holding it. His fingers hovered above it, too hesitant to touch the once broken blade.

Nero's hands went back over to the Red Queen, he picked the blade out of the case, his hand firmly grasping the red handle. Nero turned the blade quickly in his hand, the metal hitting the few rays of the setting sun coming in through his open balcony doors. It had been weeks since any kind of demon had even come any where near Fortuna. Nero's mind flashed back to the night, how he drug out the battle just so he had something to do. The purr of his blade as he used the throttle to rev it up. Thinking back on that night Nero set his sword back into the case. Maybe Red Queen was a little to flashy to be strapped onto his back for this event. Nero placed his hand on the other sword in the case, letting his hand linger on it, flashes of the day coming to him in a rush.

_Yamato. _

A small smile played at the corners of his lips as he lifted the blade out of the case. The blade was a lot thinner, of course most of that had to do with it being a katana. Nero slid the sword into the small holster on his belt that was also issued as a part of the uniform.

The sword fit perfectly, Nero grinned at the realization of this.

Nero looked at himself in the full length mirror. The white of the uniform was off setting compared to his pale complexion with his even fairer hair. The uniform had been tailored perfectly to fit his built frame. Nero caught sight of the golden shoulder pads with the small golden tousles hanging off of them, he tried not to cringe at the sight of himself. The uniform fit perfectly, even he could admit that, but it didn't _fit_ him. The only thing on the uniform that even felt right was the sword hanging at his side. Nero brushed his fingers lightly against the handle one last time before heading out of his bedroom door.

_At least I have you. _

Nero made it to the Chapel right when the ceremony was starting. He ran up the steps, standing outside of the wide double doors that were now closed. Inside he could hear Kyrie singing. Her strong voice carrying through the stone and stained glass building. His hand rested on the large handle to the door, just letting her voice take him away for just a moment. The pain in his chest came back in a burst of flame. This was how it all started. Nero shook his head lightly, as if doing this action would shake away everything he was feeling. Nero finally pushed open one of the wide doors, being careful to sneak in and make his way up to the front of the chapel by going around the pews. He knew that they had been waiting for him, he didn't even feel bad about being a little bit late. He tried not to smirk at the thought of it.

Nero took place in the very first pew, not where he would normally sit but now as one of the few remaining members of the Order left it was where he had to be. Nero looked around him, the knights around him in similar clothing, except that their uniforms were not as decorated as his.

_Lucky bastards._ Nero thought remembering exactly why it was that he was there today.

Kyrie finished her song, her eyes locking onto Nero's as the last note was escaping from her mouth. A small smile came to her face seeing him there. Kyrie stepped away from the altar, an older man taking her place behind a podium.

Nero moved over on the pew, leaving enough room for Kyrie to sit down next to him. Kyrie put her small frame next to his, smoothing out her dress as she did so.

"It has been a long year since the events that tore this city apart…" The man at the front started to say, starting his sermon. Nero had already stopped listening, his thoughts being anywhere but there.

The sermon that was being said faded into the background. Nero looked up at the ceiling, the clear glass that offered sunlight to the church. The glass was new, offering pristine shine to it as the suns rays were streaming in through it. Nero's mind immediately went to that day. The image of shards of glass falling down from the ceiling as the billows of a red coat came crashing down. A small smirk played at the corner of his lips as he remembered how he met the infamous half devil. Nero looked back up towards the podium, the words of the sermon coming back to his ears.

"..and today we would like introduce our new captain of the Order who, after much thought was taken into this, will be able to lead this town to its once former glory!" There was clapping through out the chapel along with many whispers.

Nero knew what was coming next, he knew the words that were going to come out of the priests mouth. Nero took in a sharp breath, holding the warm air of the chapel in his lungs, even though he knew it was coming there was something about it that he couldn't help holding his breath. "Our very own Nero!" Too cheerful, his voice when it sounded out Nero's name was too cheerful. A high pitch note on the e, his voice sounding louder on the o. Nero stood at the sound of his name, knowing that this is what he was suppose to do. Knowing that this is what all the cheers and clapping hands were for. Nero made his way up to the podium as the priest moved away from it.

Nero looked out into the pews of the church, the light from the high sun streaming in through the stained glass windows casting colored shadows across everyone's features. Another brief flash brought back the memories of the half demon in the red coat standing right where Nero was. The eerie silence of the church brought Nero back. "This is beyond a great honor…" Nero began his speech that he has practiced a hundred times over. The speech that he knew everyone would want to hear with the perfect words. None of it meant anything to him though. The words came out easily, Nero paused every now and then where he thought that the speech required it for more dramatic effect. The thought of this almost caused a sadistic smirk across his features. _Of course none of this is for me._ Nero repressed the smirk threatening to play at this lips along with the laugh that was daring to escape his throat.

The speech came to an end, where one by one everyone stood from their pews to applaud their new Captain of the Order. Nero smiled at the, the same smile that he had been practicing to go along with his speech. A smile that wasn't too wide, or too little to show that he was ungrateful, just enough of a smile that said the words _thank you._ Nero waved out to the crowed with his human hand, coming dangerously close to trying to lift up his bandaged hand. Just more of a reminder as to why he shouldn't be doing this.

Nero kept looking at the crowd, his eyes scanning everyone there. Off to the side where the other members of the Order stood Kyrie. She smiled up at Nero, a wide affectionate smile, her hands rapidly moving in applause for his speech. He knew that what he had said had made her happy, more than happy. Kyrie felt like her life was finally coming back together. She accepted Nero and that's what mattered.

Nero looked back down at his bandaged arm. The only thing that Nero could think about was how it was bandaged _all the time._ Even when he was with Kyrie, because when it wasn't he could see the way that she looked at him. How she pretended that everything was ok. It just took that one look a few weeks ago for him to realize that it wasn't. The worried look in her eyes anytime she looked at his Devil Bringer. His solution was to keep it covered all the time. He could feel the skin underneath being irritated, rubbing against the fabric of his cast. The irritation spreading all over his skin at that moment. As the irritation began crawling underneath his skin to his very core as he continued to wave out to the crowd he just kept reminding himself that this was all for her.

_Its not enough anymore. _


	2. The Night Descending

AN: Thank you so much for all of the kind words! I had been wanting to write a DMC D/N fanfic for a while and I just finally got all of my thoughts together lol. Honestly its hard to find a good dante/nero ff, trust me I go looking all the time lol. There are some good ones but there aren't enough in my opinion. Thank you so much again!

Also I don't own the DMC series, and if I did the fifth game WOULD NOT LOOK LIKE IT DOES and it would involve more Nero :D

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><p>The day continued on slowly to Nero. The setting sun that he saw when he left his room was still just over the horizon, not fully disappearing. The light of day still lingering in lines across the sky as dark blue streaks threatened to over take it.<p>

Nero stood on the steps to the Cathedral looking out at the people of Fortuna. Lights were strung all across the court yard, through the iron fences, through the plants. Twinkles of white breaking through the colors of the city, illuminating every place the lights touched making some of what was left under construction look beautiful.

One by one the people of Fortuna lined up to talk to Nero. Each person had a way of saying thank you, each hand shook vigorously. Every pair of eyes filled with a gratitude deserving of him, some eyes brimmed with tears of thanks. Nero took each hand in his, careful to try not to reach them with his demon hand.

No matter how many thanks he received he still noticed the few people in the crowd with their eyes flittering towards his bandaged hand every now and then. Nero knew that they would never fully accept him, not all of them anyways. There would always be the few whispers about how someone so young became such a high ranking member to the Holy Knights and the Order. There would always be those who questioned how he saved this town, who still had questions about the man in the red coat that just seemed to have disappeared.

"I'm just so grateful that you are going to be leading the Order now. I always knew there was something about you, something that just said that you would be a great leader one day. You have that air about you kid." An older man with a slightly hunched back and small frame was shaking Nero's hand variously with both of his own. Nero just looked down at him, trying to bring a smile to his face but not being able to do it. _Kid. _That one single word brought a wave of images flashing through Nero's mind. There was only one other person who called him that, Nero pushed the thought aside quickly and instead looked down at the old man, hoping that there would be enough gratitude in his own eyes for the old man to see his own thanks.

"Thank you so much, I only hope that I will be as great as your words." As Nero said that he truly meant them. He hoped that he would be able to live up to these new expectations and help to become a driving force in rebuilding this town. There was a part of Nero that did want this, he wanted to be this great leader, to have a place here with all of these people who wanted him to succeed. The old man smiled up as him and let go of Nero's hand.

The old man walked down the steps gesturing for the next citizen in line to go up to Nero. Nero continued on keeping up the best demeanor that he could, calm. He could feel himself wanting to talk back to everyone. Yes he was grateful of their kind words but there was a part of him that wanted to scream out at them. _What are you expecting out of me? To be someone great? To fix all of these towns problems? _He could feel the words crawling under his skin, begging to come out. Nero's mind flipped back and forth between wanting to be the perfect Captain and the other side of him just wanted to ask everyone what the hell the problem was picking him to have such an important role.

_Just breathe, I only need to make it through the night._ Nero looked up at the sky realizing that the sun had finally set bringing on the full set darkness of night. The sky burst into stars, the ground reflecting the sky with its artificial lights as they went into their full effect. What seemed like an endless line of people finally did come to an end. Nero let out a small sigh of relief as he closed his eyes for a moment only to imagine that he wasn't really there.

His mind went to a place much simpler than this one. A place where he was able to be free of everyone's on going pressure for him to be something greater. Where he could just be himself. Somewhere where the skin on his arm wasn't crawling with anticipation to be able to _breathe. _

Nero opened his eyes back up to see Kyrie looking up at him. Her amber eyes giving off the look of flames as the lights of the city shone against them. A smile played across her features as her hand reached out for his. Nero tried his hardest to return the smile that she was giving him but he couldn't bring himself to do it. A part of her smile fell as she realized that he wasn't giving her one in return. She squeezed his hand lightly in reassurance.

"We'll go home soon." Kyrie whispered to him. Nero raised his eyebrows at her knowing that she never came to his quarters.

The night was soon over, but not quick enough in Nero's opinion. After yet another speech from the priest to the towns people Nero was able to leave, a part of him felt bad that the other Holy Knights had to stay till everyone went home. The part of him wanting to leave and get out of the uniform that seemed to weigh a lot more by the end of the night eventually won out with his dilemma of volunteering to stay.

Nero made it back to his room with Kyrie following him into the room. The doors leading out to the balcony were left open, a light breeze billowing the white curtains. The room was cast in a light blue glow, the brightness of the full moon illuminating the room. Blue, white, gray and black shadows danced across the objects of his room as the breeze continue to blow in.

The door shut behind Kyrie, her back pushed against the door. Her eyes were cast downwards as Nero approached her. Kyrie let her eyes linger on the floor as Nero's hand found its way to her waist. His hand slowly moved its way up her side, his fingers lightly tracing their way up to her face. His fingers finally made it to her face where he tilted her chin up so her eyes finally locked on with his. Nero leaned down, his lips lightly touching hers. Kyrie parted her lips ever so slightly just enough to grant Nero access.

Nero pushed himself against Kyrie trapping her between himself and the wall. He immediately felt her body tense as he put more pressure between them. Nero deepened the kiss, pressing his hips to hers. Once more her body tensed. Nero let her reaction slide as he continued to kiss her. His free hand began to roam her body, traveling from her thighs to her hips and higher.

Kyrie quickly pulled away from Nero breaking the kiss. She looked down at the ground, her gaze not wanting to meet Nero's confused one.

"What is it?" Nero asked her, his voice quiet. He pressed his forehead against hers; her eyes still focused on the floor beneath them.

"I…I don't think I'm ready yet." Kyrie's voice trembled as she spoke, her eyes too afraid to meet Nero's. Nero instantly let go of her almost pushing her away from him. He walked over to the balcony, casting his eyes to the sky. The moon shinning in through the open doors cast brilliant white shadows across Nero's skin, the color of the moon making his normally white hair show hues of light blue.

"God Kyrie what is it? Why is it every time we are together you always seem so reluctant?" Nero was frustrated, this had been going on for a year now. Every time when Nero thought that they were going to be close she backed away at the last moment.

"I'm just not ready yet." Her voice was timid as she twined her fingers together out of nervousness.

"No that's not it. I don't think you're ready to be with a monster." Nero's voice was harsh, he ran his fingers through his hair making the hues of blue blur as his lochs were rustled.

As soon as the words were out of his mouth Kyrie's eyes widened and for the first time in the room she looked at Nero. "No its not that at all!" Her voice was rushed, the nervousness showing fully in it.

"Don't fool yourself Kyrie, that's exactly what it is." Nero clenched his teeth as the last words came out. His hand twisted into a fist at his side as the frustration kept rising inside of him.

"Nero, I love you, you know that." Her voice came out in a whisper, the fear of this fight shinning brightly behind her eyes. Kyrie took a step closer to Nero who was pacing in between the open doors of the balcony while lightly shaking his head.

"Is that what you think this is? You think that this is love? You really do have yourself fucking fooled. I do everything for you! This! All of this!" Nero was facing her now, his voice loud and even, the anger in his voice making his argument resolute. Nero pointed at the pressed uniform that was clinging to his skin while he kept screaming. "Every single move I have made for the past year has been for you! I saved you! I risked everything for you! Most of the town may accept me but I can see the way that you still look at me at times. Like I don't fucking notice. How disgusted you look when you look at my arm. When you realize what I really am. This isn't love, I'm not really sure if it ever was. You may have been a fool but its obvious that I was the bigger one for ever thinking that this would work. That someone like you would ever love a monster like me." With every word that passed through his lips his voice became a small octave louder. Convinced that the louder he was the more his point would get across.

Kyrie looked at Nero, her eyes brimmed with tears. Her fingers and lips trembling at the same time. Nero scoffed at the sight of her. "Of course you would do this. Do you think if you shed a few tears that I can forgive you for everything that I have done for you? I don't know who I am anymore because of you!" The words were out of his mouth before he could even think about stopping them. He wasn't even really sure if he wanted to.

Nero could feel the hot sting of tears threatening their way out. _I wont let her see me this way, she doesn't deserve any tear I shed for her. _"Get out of here Kyrie." His voice was shaking now, the true weight of his words weighing down on him. His own thoughts promise him his own demise. Kyrie didn't move, her lips stay opened slightly almost as if she wanted to say something. She looked frozen in time almost. Nero would have thought for a moment that she was if not for the single tear that slid down her face at that moment. "Get out of here!" This time he yelled the words to her, hoping that his deep voice would have more of an impact on her this time.

They did just what he was hoping for. Kyrie ran out of the room, her footsteps pressing hard against the wood floor. She slammed the door shut on her way out. Nero could hear her sobs become distant as she ran down the hallway away from his room.

Without another thought Nero ran his human hand through the wall next to him. The plaster crumbled as white dust flew up into the air. Nero pulled out his hand that was now covered in a mixture of plaster and blood. Scratches ran deep along his hand and wrist. Nero stayed frozen for a moment watching the crimson liquid spread its way slowly, threading its way into staining the fabric of his pristine uniform.

The silence in the room became overwhelming. Nero began to rip at his uniform with his bloodied hand, more of his blood streaking across the uniform. The fabric was tearing with difficulty but the noise of each rip brought a strange satisfaction to Nero's ears. He needed the noise, anything was better than the silence. The golden buttons on the front of the uniform went skidding across the floor as Nero continued to ravage every delicate piece that belonged to the Captain's uniform.

The hot tears were no longer threatening the brim of his eyes, they were now in a torrent down Nero's face. The warm liquid fell fast, the droplets landing on the chest of the fabric that was still clinging to him, refusing to let go. Nero began to tear at the uniform harder. This time his hand when for the intricate tassels on his shoulders. The golden fabric began to unweave as his blooded human hand kept ripping at it. The gold mixed with his blood started turning to a dark brown as more of his blood kept seeping in. He continued to rip at his shoulder pieces till there was nothing left but a pile of gold, red and brownish colored thread in a heap on the floor.

Nero's chest started heaving as his breathing became rapid from the anger that still hadn't extinguished from him. Nero pulled at the fabric left on the front of his jacket one more time, with one last loud tear going up the spine of the jacket Nero was able to throw it off on to the floor. Nero collapsed down onto this knees staring at the destruction he had just done.

For the second time that day Nero had the same thought, _Its not enough anymore. _


	3. Promising Light

AN: Thanks so much for the reviews. I'm sorry if the story seems sort of slow right now though, I'm genuinely trying to build a story line and sometimes I drag things out. I'm trying to have Nero and Dante meeting again make sense(well at least in my head). Disclaimer: I do not own DMC, but I'm pretty sure I would sell myself to do so.

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><p>The night air was cold, biting away at Nero's skin. The last few minutes were lost to him. Nero was standing outside in the main square of Fortuna. Hastily dressed in his usual clothing, his familiar black pants with his worn leather boots strapped up to his knees. A bag of things strapped to his back, along with the case holding Yamato. The Red Queen was free of any casing, strapped to his back, holstered against his jacket. A breeze blew through the square, sending a small shiver up Nero's spine. He sighed as he zipped up his jacket, realizing he hadn't put a shirt on underneath it; his bare chest exposed.<p>

The lights that had been illuminating the city earlier were now turned off. The wires still strung through almost every crack and crevice. The rest of the lights in the city were turned off, something that was normal in the city of Fortuna. Every night at eleven the lights in the city were shut off street by street, signaling to the citizens that it was no longer safe to be outside.

The only light now was what the night sky had to offer. A full moon hung above Nero, which made moving his way through this dark city easier on him.

It also meant that members of the Holy Knights would be patrolling the streets. To make sure that all citizens were inside their houses at this time, safe from the shadows of the night along with all of its dark promises. Nero wasn't sure if it was more to protect the citizens of Fortuna or to keep more of a control on them.

The fountain in the middle of the square was the only source of noise at this time of night. The water trickling from its very top layers, becoming louder as it went down before finally hitting the bottom in more of a splashing noise. The fountains capacity made is what made it louder, never giving off the relaxing noise of a steady stream.

This night gave off more of a threat to Nero than any other previous night. He knew the shadows of these streets better than anyone. Nero knew what would happen if he were to be caught though. He wouldn't be punished, not like the few times before when he was much younger and more careless as to how he moved through the night. This new risk was much greater.

There was the chance that if he was caught that he wouldn't be able to leave. That this city's need for him was really that great. The desperation and hope mixed together in the citizens' eyes would be just enough for him to change his mind. Not only that but if he were to be caught, there was sure to be protective watches around his living quarters to make sure that he didn't run off. If he were to do this, now was the only time.

Yards away he could hear the unison footsteps of multiple knights marching along the cobblestone streets heading into the square. Nero wiped his clammy hands onto the smooth fabric of his pants in attempts to get some of the moisture off. Looking over in the direction of the footsteps, he could see their shadows cast on the side of one of the buildings leading straight into the square. A soft glow cast amongst the group from the lights they carried.

Nero quickly ducked into an alley in between two shops. The alley was completely clear of clutter and trash save for the one dumpster at the end of the alley against the wall that adjoined the two shops. Fortuna citizens held high standards for how their city looked, keeping everything clean to show respect for one another and their city. This made traveling through that night that much easier with nothing to make noise on or accidentally trip over.

At the end of the alley, nailed into the brick wall was an iron ladder leading up to the rooftops. Nero didn't even need to feel around for it, the moon cast a blue light over the end of the alley. He climbed up the ladder with ease that his hands were now dry, pulling his body onto the rooftop. Nero ducked down behind a small ridge that the roof offered, peering over the side of it just as the Holy Knights passed the alley that he was just in barely even taking a glance down it.

Nero mapped out the route that they would be taking, knowing the all different patrol routes and what units of the Knights took which streets. Since he was the one that had designed the new patrolling pattern he could easily maneuver his way through the streets with crafted patience on relying mainly on the shadows. Next the Knights would be passing by the row of shops, first the boutique of finely tailored clothes, then the store that sold beautifully crafted jewelry. A tightening in his chest formed as he remembered the necklace that he had bought for Kyrie. A small delicate gold chain holding a golden angel with a red crystal in between the two sets of wings.

Images of that day started plaguing Nero's mind. Running into the chapel after fighting off countless scarecrows, sliding into his empty seat just in time to hear Kyrie finish her ballad. Setting the necklace down next to him in its long green box, his way of letting her know that the gift was for her. How stupidly she ran for the necklace as the whole chapel broke out in chaos as a billow of red fabric came crashing through the class. Giving her the necklace back after saving her. The look of happiness that she still wears on her face every time she looks at the angel.

A time when they were both happier.

The aching in his chest grew stronger, the images flashing through his mind uncontrollable. A cold sweat broke out through his skin, droplets running down his body under his clothes and down his face. He slid down even lower, laying on his back now staring up at the star sprinkled sky. His breathing caught in his chest, hitching every now and then. Nero lay there waiting for his body to calm down, the beating against his ribcage to stop before he moved on. The images had stopped, but Nero needed a minute before he tried to continue on.

With a map of the city etched into his mind it would only take three more rooftops for him to hit the end of the street. Nero got back onto his feet, bounding easily across the buildings. Nero looked over the ledge of the last building, it wasn't that far of a drop. Not bothering with the ladder that was just a few feet away he jumped off of the building. His coat moved up over his body as the air pushing against him moved it along his skin revealing his toned stomach. His feet silently hit the ground as his body went into a crouching position. Nero looked down the street both ways just to make sure that the patrols hadn't suddenly changed their positions.

Without another moment he took off, moving quickly through the last few buildings to reach a storage facility that housed countless items for the Order. Storage units lined the long wall of the building and wrapped around to the backside of it. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven. Nero counted the units along the wall, reaching his with ease. Thankful that it wasn't one of the units on the back of the building that he could already tell was offering no light.

Reaching into his pocket he pulled out the single key not attached to anything to unlock the door. With the door now free of the lock Nero tossed the key onto the ground along with the lock, both of them skidding across the harsh asphalt. Nero slid the large door up, metal clinking together as it slid up the tracks revealing a dark compartment. He walked into the storage unit, his hands finding a set of handles. He pushed on the heavy object, wheeling it out into the street.

The blue hues of the night along with the white of the moon reflected off the black gleaming surface of his street bike. Nero grinned, the first one in months, as his fingers ran across the glossy material.

The bike was a gift to himself with his new pay increase the Order had given him. Nero had quietly been the Captain of the Order for months, the Order wanting it to stay quiet until the city was mostly restored. The city itself didn't sell items like this, it had to be ordered from somewhere else and shipped into the city. It took a few weeks for it to get there but Nero was ecstatic when it finally did arrive.

It had been a month since he was actually able to ride it though. Kyrie wasn't too happy that he was riding something that was so dangerous. The bike itself didn't pose too much of a threat against someone's life, it was how reckless Nero on the bike is what worried her. Nero did what he thought would make her happy, he told her that he wouldn't ride the bike anymore. She acted as if he didn't need to do such a thing but he knew that she was genuinely happy about the offer. The use of the bike became strictly limited to night rides on the nights that he wasn't required to patrol, even then he sometimes used it as an excuse saying that it gave him an advantage. Word eventually got around that Nero was riding the bike around town at night. The sound of the engine was the first giveaway. The rest of the Order stayed quiet about it but it was one of the citizens that told Kyrie about the young man who rode through the town at odd hours sometimes hollering sounds of joy. Kyrie refused to speak to Nero for days, forcing him to follow her around begging and pleading for her forgiveness over something so trivial. She eventually gave in, which resulted in a lecture of how reckless he was and how he should think more about what she would think.

Nero straddled himself to the bike, adjusting all of his items so they rested easily on his back and off the side of the bike at the same time. His hand revved the throttle bringing the engine roaring to life, all the while his demon arm gripped the other rubber handle of the bike. His Devil Bringer was still wrapped tightly in white cloth, all the way up to the very edges of his nails making sure every inch of it was covered. The itch was still there beneath the cloth for him to be able to breathe, for now though it would have to stay that way.

The noise from his engine would be enough for some of the members of the nightly patrol over this way to see what it was while the others would realize it was just Nero out for a long awaited night ride. His feet felt for the kickstand, pushing it up then both of them quickly resting on the pegs of the bike. The bike shot off down the street, the gauge showing his speed quickly climbing.

Nero began zigzagging through the streets, going to the one place that he knew would take him out of the city. He could see the looming gate of the city only a few yards away. Large wrought iron enforced wooden doors stood higher than most of the buildings in the city. The gates tonight were still wide open, the Knights of the city becoming more careless as the days drew on from the non existent demon activity in the city. A pair of knights turned onto the main avenue. There was no time for him to swerve, it risked him losing balance to go skidding across the street. The two knight dove out of the way falling into an outdoor set of table and chairs belonging to the café.

Once again a grin played on Nero's features at the comedic timing of it. He knew that the knights weren't injured over it. The road leading in and out of Fortuna was desolate, the land surrounding the road offering no promise of human life save for the gate that enclosed the city. Nero quickly picked up the speed on his motorcycle, wanting to get further away from the city. The road was smooth, the asphalt with barely any wear on it. The little damage that was on it was from corrosions of weather and less likely from travel.

The cold ripped through every inch of him, his clothes offering no relief or any promise of warmth. Nero just twisted the throttle a little more while kicking the bike into a higher gear with his right foot. All he wanted to feel was the cold, a distraction from the ever wandering thoughts going through his mind.

The road led straight into the vast mountain range that surrounds the city, becoming more narrow the further up the side of the mountain it went. Nero leaned with his bike moving along the sharp twists and turns of the mountain before finally breaking into the wider path once he was in the actual mountains. Hours passed on, the early break of morning coming over the horizon. Hues of pink, orange and yellow cutting across the dark blue sky. The road was becoming narrow again as it made its descent down the mountain. Nero slowed his bike down taking the sharp, tight twists with ease. The winding eventually stopped, the road now offering a promise of nothing but a straight away. The ocean was just ahead of him, his breath caught in his chest as golden hues played across the dark blue of the water.

Nero slowed the speed on his bike. The stronger breeze from the ocean meeting him, swirls of salt, sand and untainted air rushing his senses. The road ran along the side of the beach, the noise of waves crashing against rocks and sand reached Nero's ears. A welcoming sound from the hours of hearing the wind push past him. In the distance a dock stood in the crashing waves. A small shack sat at the beginning of the dock, nestled into the ground a few feet above the water. Nero rode over to the small building where a sign in faded hand painted green letters hung reading _FERRY. _

Once Nero pulled up to the building he shut off his bike. He moved the kickstand down while getting off of the bike. He walked over to the building slowly trying to get a better look. A small sign hung above a window on the side of building, _TICKETS. _The sign had the same lettering and wear the that first one did.

"Excuse me." Nero said as he saw a small older man behind a window covered in grime, sitting in a chair with a newspaper sprawled out in front of him. The man hadn't noticed his approach so he seemed startled at the sound of the young man's voice fumbling with his paper, crunching it between his fingers. The older man looked around fervently, his eyes wide with surprise at the sound of someone's voice. His eyes adjusted to normal size as they rested upon Nero standing in front of him with a confused look on his face.

"Can I help you?" The older man asked, a strange accent lingered in his voice, his vowels having more pronunciation than other letters. Nero looked out at the dock then back to the man behind the window.

"Where does the ferry go?" It seemed like such a ridiculous question, he felt like he should know but he had no knowledge of this place until now. No one ever spoke of it, he was sure that a lot of the people of Fortuna didn't know about this either.

"Mainland." Almost as if the answer was that simple. _Mainland? Yeah that really tells me where I'm going. _Nero knew that Fortuna was on an island, anything past that though Nero had no idea about.

"When is the next ferry coming?" Nero ran his hand through his wind blown hair in a sign of frustration. The man smiled up at Nero this time, pointing out at the water.

"You're just in time, the ferry only comes twice a week." Nero looked out at the ocean, a large ferry making its way into the docking area. The night sky was fully gone now, replaced by a light blue one with a yellow glow giving the ocean the harshness of staring into the sun when you looked directly at it. He paid for a ticket then walked his motorcycle across the wooden dock to where the ferry was pulling in. _He must live in there too, it's a little odd but I guess the city must pay him. _Nero tried not to think about the strangeness off it but instead looked at the ferry that could easily house cargo and passengers.

A small crew was aboard the vessel, getting ready to bring wooden crates off of the ferry. A young man around Nero's age who looked like he hadn't slept in days with dark purple rings under his eyes laid a ramp down connecting the ferry to the dock. The man looked at the Red Queen sticking out over Nero's shoulder, the man just shrugged as he took Nero's ticket ripping it in half then giving part of it back to Nero.

Nero squeezed his bike onto the narrow ramp then onto the slick surface of the ferry. The back of the ferry was designed to hold an assortment of vehicles. Once he found a good place for the bike to rest he strapped it down with a black harness that was bolted down on the ferry.

The ferry sat idle for a few minutes while the crew finished unloading the cargo at the old man's business/house. The man came out of a door on the side of the shack, signing for the delivery. The whole thing just made Nero wonder about it more, like who picked up these deliveries? Why had he never even wondered about any of this before?

The propellers and engine of the ferry started back up as two crew members pulled the ramp back onto the vessel. The water lapped against the metal sides of the boat as it peddled through the water. Nero leaned against the railing, mists of sea water spraying his face. The island where the city of Fortuna lay started to shrink as the ferry continues onward. The island becoming smaller in the distance until eventually turning into nothing more than a shadow then finally disappearing all together.

With no idea where he was going, with no one holding him to any expectations. Without the effort of pretending to be some one he couldn't, without trying his hardest to make another person happy, there was a sense of relief that washed over him.

For the first time in years Nero felt free.


	4. Devil in the Details

AN: I figured I would push another chapter out before I have to go back to work tomorrow and before the VMAs tonight(I need to watch for the hunger games clip). I also realized I never know where this story is going till I sit down and pull out my laptop. Oh and I wanted to work on it before my boyfriend came back home. I was trying to read a D/N ff earlier and he walked in on me and tried to go through my internet history. I was like "Trust me you don't want to." LOL. Anyways thank you again for the reviews!Oh also I have never written a fight scene before so please forgive me as I need some practice.

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><p>Hours had passed till the ferry finally came to a stop at a busy port, different types of boats hurrying in and out of the harbor. The sun in the sky was signaling that it was late afternoon. The sky giving off a harsh yellow color as it threatened to turn the sky orange and red with sunset. A fog rising from the waterfront spilled into the street. All along the harbor was a busy street, filled with factories and shops for trading.<p>

Nero walked off of the dock onto the bustling of the street. He looked down at this feet, the road he was standing on was covered in water and grime. The street was lined with open crates filled with goods, meats and some of them just crates of trash waiting to be thrown out. Everyone moved around quickly, shouting things at other shop owners and passer-bys on this street. The commotion was loud, louder than even festivals back in Fortuna. There wasn't just the yelling but always things being carelessly thrown out into the streets along with loud grinding noises coming from some of the shops. Smoke was rising out of pipes coming from every one of the buildings lining the harbor.

Nero walked through the bustle of the street, moving between the dirt covered workers of this street. No one seemed to notice him, his striking features not attracting anyone's attention. Everyone moved around him just as if he was any other person standing in this street. Nero smiled lightly at this thought, being able to blend in so easily. Nero kept walking down the street, away from the busy port; store owners screaming out deals and offers to him of their merchandise. He paid no attention to them as he kept walking through the throng of people, to what he assumed was the end of this trading market.

Nero kept walking, taking in all of his surroundings. He made it out of the market and into a still busy street. This one wasn't nearly as loud though and these people weren't yelling but most of them still carried themselves in a hurried manner. Most of these people were better dressed though, their clothes more tailored, fitting their bodies better. Their faces weren't covered with sweat and dirt. Nero matched his pace with the passing bodies, most of them too busy and focused on their day to notice him walking amongst them.

All around him, the further into the city that he walked the buildings became taller and more intricately built. Towers of glass, stone and steel soaring into the sky. Nero adjusted the bag strapped to his shoulder as he glanced at the sky above him, getting a better look at the buildings. There was nothing like this back in Fortuna, he had never even seen pictures of buildings of this magnitude. Nero kept walking, moving his gaze ahead of him. The streets away from the trade market were still dirty, trash littered in random places, black stains on the once white sidewalk. It was no where near to the amount of dirt from the harbor though. Cars sat pushing against one another on the roads nestled in between the buildings. Most of them honking to usher the other cars to move even though the light at the intersect was red. Puffs of smog emitted from some of the cars, creating a heavy air around Nero. The honking continued once the light turned green and all of the cars started slowly inching forward just to hit another red light at the next intersection. Nero had never seen so many cars, most of them were in styles he had never seen before. A lot of them sleek, showing the care that was taken of them. A few others with faded paint and rusted bumpers pushed their way along the street with the others. Nero watched the scene unfold before him. The cars doing nothing but pushing each other, inching up on one another until they were almost touching as if this were to move the rest of the traffic along faster. Nero couldn't fathom why everyone was in such a rush and where all of these people were going.

Nero kept walking though, not really paying attention to the time of day. Before he even realized it the sun had already set and the mass of people that had been crowding the street were now just a few scattered people here and there. The scenery around Nero had changed drastically though. The tall graceful buildings that he was walking through earlier had turned into smaller buildings, most of them run down, barely any windows on any of them. Some of then only having one heavy door leading into the entrance. Nero looked around confused for a moment, wondering when the scenery changed so drastically.

The streets down here were once again covered in grime, the buildings also offering the same care. The street light flickered above him before fully burning out. The rest of the ones on the street still offered a soft orange glow. A light breeze blew through the street, sending old newspapers that had been carelessly discarded down the street into a gutter. Nero kept walking, looking around at the tarnished and seedy buildings, seeing what each one had to display. The few that did have windows were blacked out with neon sings hanging in them. The further he walked the rest of the buildings started to show neon signs mounted from their roofs, all of them stating what types of business' they were.

Bars, lounges and gentleman's clubs.

Nero wasn't too sure what a gentleman's club was but he did definitely know what a bar was. Even if the only one in Fortuna closed at eleven. Nero walked toward a building with no windows, just a neon saying stating _BAR _with a neon blinking arrow pointing down at the door. Nero clicked down on the handle of the door, pulling it open. A waft of cigarette smoke billowed into his face clouding his sight for a second. The door closed behind Nero with a _click._ The bar had patrons filled all through-out, most of them taking up booths that lined the walls. The lighting in the bar was dim, all of it coming from handing lamps with large dark covers.

The bar still held a few empty seats, one of them off in the corner at the end of the bar where there was less light. Nero went over to the side of the bar that guaranteed quiet. He slid onto a leather bound barstool, keeping his bag attached to his back. The bag was starting to have its wear on him, the muscles in his shoulders and upper back aching. It wasn't something that he couldn't handle though.

Nero's eyes flitted through the bar once more, this time noticing that some of the patrons were staring at him. Once his eyes scanned the room, most of the eyes that had been looking at him went back to doing other things. Nero tried not to be agitated by this, especially after his day of traveling. The people at the bar though paid no attention to him, most of them to engulfed in their own problems to notice the young man attempting to hide in the shadows of the broken lamp at the end of the bar.

The bar tender stood in front of Nero, leaning on the counter while the white rag in his hands cleaned a crystal glass. "What can I get for you kid?" _Kid? _The one word started to itch its way under Nero's skin but he tried not to let it get to him, shrugging his shoulders a few times as if he were literally shaking the word off of him.

"Bourbon, on the rocks." Nero laid a bill out on the bar, the bartender sliding it into his pocket. The bartender nodded to him in acknowledgement of his order. Nero had only been into the bar in Fortuna a few times, never to actually drink. The few times that he was there it was in attempts to meet up with some of the other members of the Holy Knights once Nero was actually old enough to be in the bar. The bar in Fortuna was a lot cleaner than this one though, mirrors lining most of the walls, hanging crystal glasses from cabinets, every seat in the bar in a soft clean fabric that was cushioned. This bar looked like it had attempted the same style but over the years gathered too much wear. Nero only remembered the name of the drink because of how odd it at sounded to him at the time that one of the members of the Knight's had ordered it.

Nero watched as the bartender pulled out a glass bottle with a black label encasing it with white bold lettering, a red ribbon in the middle of the bottle. The liquid cascaded down the ice sitting in the short wide glass. The bartender set the glass on the bar, sliding it down to Nero who stopped it with his bandaged hand.

The amber liquid swirled in the glass, unsettled from sliding across the bar. Nero looked down in the glass, watching it whirl around the ice, the ice slowly melting into the liquid. Nero held the glass up to his lips, the smell of the whiskey hitting his senses causing him to pull the glass back from his lips for a brief moment. Nero took a breath before bringing the smooth glass back to his lips. Tilting his head back Nero took all the liquid in his mouth at once, the amber liquid slid down his through causing it to burn on the way down as if someone lit a fire that trailed the liquid. The burn eventually reached his stomach. Nero wanted more than anything to show his distaste for the stuff but thought better of it. His face wanted to distort, his nose wanting to scrunch as his eyes closed. Instead he bit the inside of his mouth to keep from doing such a thing. The bartender was back to Nero, noticing that the glass was now empty, the ice slowly melting.

"Another?" Nero nodded his head at the bartender in a yes motion, still biting the inside of his cheek while the strong warm taste still lingered on his tongue. In less than a minute there was another glass sitting in front of Nero, this time Nero decided to take it slow, taking only a sip from it. The burning was less severe this time but the taste of alcohol still prominent over the other tastes of the bourbon trying to fight their way to his taste buds.

"Hey John, don't he remind you of Tony?" The bartender practically yelled across the bar to a patron sitting in a both by himself, the color on his black jacket flipped up around his neck. The bartender motioned his head towards Nero as he said this. Nero tried not to roll his eyes as he took another sip of the amber fluid in his glass.

"Tony who?." The man at the booth replied, for the first time that night his head not looking down at the table as he sat up straight correcting his slouched back.

"Tony Redgrave." The bartender said this name with a slowness, making sure to pronunciate each syllable as if that were to add the stress of the name. The accent of the people in this city was rough making even their words sounds gritty, when all Nero was used too were the smooth pronunciation of words in Fortuna. "You know Tony kid?" The bartender asked looking back at Nero.

"No, I don't know Tony." Nero said a little irritated, looking straight into the bartender's dark brown eyes. He finished off his whiskey, letting the burn return to his throat, embers cascading their way down. Nero put the glass back onto the counter a little more loudly than he intended. He dropped another bill onto the counter before heading out the door.

Nero stood out on the sidewalk, deciding which way he should go to look for a place to stay for the night. The sound of the door shutting behind him caused him to turn around to look back at the bar. The man who had been sitting a booth by himself was now standing outside. He stood taller than Nero thought he would, reaching about 6'7 in height. His body looked very thin, his back still hunching at the top. There appeared to be a sag to the man's skin, making it look worn, probably loose on this man's small frame. Black hair that seemed to have lost its luster hung in front of the man's eyes.

"Listen, I already told you, I don't know this Tony." Nero said, the annoyance in his voice seeping out. A grin played across the other man's features. _What the hell is wrong with this guy?_ Nero thought as he tried to anticipate this man's next move. Not wanting to severely harm an intoxicated human.

"Really because you seem like the type of person that he would know." The mans voice came out deep and raspy this time, sounding as if he had just smoked for the first time. The man lifted his head, his hair falling out of his eyes to reveal glowing red ones.

_I should have known. _

The skin of the man shed onto the ground around the demon, the clothes falling into bits with it as the demon broke out of the human casing around him. With the human flesh gone all that was left was a very thin looking demon covered in tight gray skin, showing prominent points of bones underneath the flesh. The fingers on the demon long, a curve inward on the end of each one. The demon's hunch was more noticeable now, its back curving upward as its stomach curve in giving it a strange shape.

Nero reached down quickly to the holster on his left thigh, pulling Blue Rose out into the open. The demon rushed at Nero, moving at a speed faster than his own. Nero dropped his bag in an attempt to move out of the way faster. Nero barely dodged the demon as it ran a few feet past him. Nero could feel himself becoming light headed, his actions not fully matching the speed or skill he wanted them too.

_I shouldn't have had those fucking drinks. _Nero was cursing himself as he watched the demon charge him again. Nero shot the double barrel gun at the demon, who only flinched at the bullets dug into its shoulder, blood sputtering out of it. Nero switched Blue Rose to his Devil Bringer getting ready to channel energy into the revolver to give them demon another shot. Nero began to focus on his arm when he realized that it was too heavily bandaged to have any effect.

Nero tossed Blue Rose too the side as he went running head on to the demon. Just as they were about to collide, Nero moved out of the way, swiftly running along the side of one of the buildings surrounding them, his feet connecting with the wall perfectly. The demon turned back around with a snarl ripping through its chest. Nero just grinned at the demon, his head now throbbing from the drinks.

It had been a year since Nero had been in a fight with a demon. All he wanted was to drag this fight out, no matter how much his head hurt or how disoriented he was becoming. He knew that even on his worst day that a demon like this really wasn't much of a challenge to him.

The fight continued on, the demon charging Nero with all of its speed all the while Nero dodging out of the way at the last moment. Nero was standing on top of a dumpster, their fight now in one of the trash filled alleys of the city. Nero couldn't help but laugh as the demon approached him with more ferocity, pissed mostly from Nero's constant taunting.

"You're really getting on my nerves." The raspy voice of the demon hissed at Nero who went to claw at him with its extended fingers, sharp nails trying to shred at this skin. Nero jumped out of the way quickly, flipping over the demon to stand behind it. The demon swiped into the air, growling loudly in frustration at not hitting anything once again. The demon looked around before it realized that Nero was standing behind him.

"I'm getting on your nerves? Funny since you were the one who came after me. Little did you know that I've been itching for a good fight. Well I guess I can't really call this one good but a fight non the less." Nero couldn't help the smile that was resting easily across his face.

The demon lunged for Nero again, launching himself into the air. Nero pulled Red Queen from his back, twisting her throttle at the same time. The sword purred to life as it went connecting into the demons chest,the blade crunching past bone but sliding through the thin skin with ease. Blood from the demon sprayed into the air, some of it reaching parts of the alley. Red dots scattering themselves against the objects that rest there. Nero dug Red Queen in further until its base was hitting the demon's chest.

"I told you I don't know Tony Redgrave." Nero claimed as the demon eyes went wide before it turned into nothing more than a wisp of black smoke until it finally dissipated into the night.

"Are you sure about that kid?"


	5. Fire for a Dry Mouth

AN: Thank you for the reviews/alerts. Oh and TwWereWolf, I listened to that song after I read your comment and my face looked like this O.O I was like "It goes with the it so well!" I love when music goes with a story, it makes it so much better to me_. _Anyways, I really struggled with this chapter. I spent about two days just thinking about what should happen. Even right now I'm not 100% about it because I have never written a story with such complicated personalities. I'm trying though, I only hope that I can do this series justice.

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><p><em>Are you sure about that kid? <em>

The sentence kept repeating in his head, each time it repeated becoming louder. Nero wasn't sure if it was really the voice in his head that was becoming louder or the blood that was now coursing through his veins so fast now that it was pounding in his head.

The voice coming from behind Nero was deep, the word _kid _came with a rougher tone coming from deep within the throat. A few seconds passed, all the while Nero was running thoughts through his head. The dilemma if he should turn around, to see if the voice is was coming from the person who he thought it was.

Nero was sure that he would never hear it again. The voice that just came from behind him was different than the one he had been replaying in his head for the past year with the uncontrollable flash backs that he seemed to receive. Was this new voice wrong? No, the one that Nero had been hearing was distorted, he almost felt like what he had been hearing didn't even do this voice justice. He still knew that he would have recognized it anywhere.

Nero turned around slowly, his eyes closed in the process. Almost as if this small act were preparing him for something. His boots twisted on the street, small pieces of loose gravel in the alley crunching beneath the worn leather.

Underneath the orange glow of the street light leaned a dark figure leaning against the lamp post, one foot propped up behind him. The figure's head was looking down towards the ground, a full head of white hair falling to cover the eyes of the shadowed man. A long red leather coat formed perfectly onto the man's body, the leather broken in to conform to him alone.

Nero bit back a grin, something that he noticed he had been doing more of lately. "I'm sure I don't know him." A soon as the words came out of his mouth, a silver object went soaring through the air towards Nero. He reached out his hands to grasp the object, thinking from a distance that it was Blue Rose being thrown to him.

Ivory rested in Nero's hands now. He moved the cool metal object through his hand, turning it over in the faded light of the alley. The light caught on an engraving, one that Nero had never seen before. He knew that the gun had Ivory etched onto one side, but he had just looked at that lettering a second ago. Nero ran his hand over the engraving, rough etching of the metal under his fingers. Nero titled the gun into the light, to see the lettering better.

_For Tony Redgrave._

Nero kept his eyes fixed on the lettering, maybe if he kept looking at it the whole scenario would start making more sense to him.

"Its an alias I used a very long time ago, probably before you were even born and not something I tend to share." He moved out of the light and down into the alley to where Nero still held Ivory in his hands, his thumb still running over the letters, the metal turning warm in his hand.

"Then why tell me Dante?" The name caught in Nero's throat, fighting its way to get out. Nero was hoping that the older man didn't notice. He tried to collect saliva in his mouth to swallow it, hoping to subdue the coarse feeling in his throat. Nero moved his tongue around in his mouth, his usually smooth tongue feeling harsh in his dry mouth.

Nero looked up at Dante who was now standing directly in front of him. Dante was close enough that even in the dim lighting of the alley Nero could still all of his features clearly. His white hair, a little bit longer than the last time they saw each other, lose strands of those white lochs falling into Dante's face no matter how many times in the passed few minutes he kept pushing them back. Stubble growing on his face, indicating that it had at least been two days since he last shaved. His eyes, as clear as ever even in the dark of night. The light of the moon catching the frozen ice color of his eyes as he turned his head to the side looking away from Nero for a brief moment, bright white flecks fighting their way through the darkness. Nero noticed the tired worn look to his eyes too, the tight skin around his eyes.

Dante looked down at Nero, just a few small inches between their height. The silence began to weigh down on Nero, not knowing how long they had been standing there like that. It seemed like minutes to him, each second becoming much longer in time to him the longer that they were quiet. One second turned into a minute, the next second turning into two minutes.

"You looked like you have a rough day kid, especially being hassled over something you had no idea about. I guess I thought I owed it to you." Dante's voice was a little quieter by the end of his sentence. Nero tried not to notice it, just as Dante had ignored the catch in Nero's throat earlier. The exchange between them was becoming awkward, both men standing barely a foot from one another but neither one looking directly at one another.

"Well thanks, you could have at least jumped in and helped though, I would have found that sufficient enough." Nero walked passed Dante shoving Ivory into Dante's chest then going for his tossed aside bag and the long case that held the katana. Nero paused for a moment, his hand resting on the case before he threw the strap of it around himself. With his belongings on him Nero began searching the street for his discarded gun.

"I don't know, it was kind of interesting seeing you stumble around. I was trying to decide if you had just been out of the game for that long or if you were just drunk. I went with the latter of the two and just decided to watch you _gracefully _try to kill that thing." Nero could hear the playful tone in Dante's voice, something that Nero was more familiar with. This type of banter came a lot easier to the both of them. Especially Nero, the awkwardness fading away along with the fire in his dry mouth.

Nero kept looking around the street, hoping to catch a glimpse of the sleek metal of Blue Rose in one of the heaps of trash along the curb of the street. "I'm also assuming that in your drunken stupor you couldn't properly fire your weapon so you carelessly threw it to the side." Nero stopped kicked over one of the bags of trash, an empty paper cup rolling out into the street. He looked over at Dante who was now standing there with Blue Rose dangling off of his index finger, swaying slowly back and forth. Nero could feel a frustration building up inside of him. Nero didn't know if it was the alcohol that he could now feel rushing through his veins full force, the adrenaline from the fight just jump starting the effects of the liquor that much faster or if something else was trying to claw its way out of him wanting to snap at Dante. _It has to be the liquor, I only had two glasses…maybe I shouldn't have picked something so strong. _

Nero walked over to Dante, part of him wanting to stomp his feat to show his aggravation but decided otherwise. Nero snatched Blue Rose out of a smirking Dante's hand. "If you must know, the bullets weren't having the best effect, I went to charge it up but realized that I couldn't." Nero said waving his covered Devil Bringer up in the air. The smirk that had been playing on Dante's features fell quickly.

He slid the revolver back into its holster attached to his left thigh. Red Queen was dangling loosely from his Devil Bringer, Nero had almost forgotten he was dragging the large weapon around out in the open, drops of demonic blood in a trail of loops from where Nero had been walking. Nero held the sword as far away from him as he could, shaking the weapon as blood droplets when splattering the wall and surrounding items. It wasn't much of a difference from how the alley already looked.

Getting the blade as clean as he could get it, Nero slid it back into the holster attached to his back. The unsettling silence fell back between them, weighing down harder the second time making the noise of the streets more profound, the rustle of trash sounding more like a car crash than a light breeze over a few papers. The pounding in Nero's head kicked into overdrive, even the sound of the blood rushing through his head was almost deafening. Nero couldn't keep his eyes on Dante, his eyes flickering back and forth between the older man and the side of the bar. Dante's eyes never once left Nero though, making the whole thing more unsettling. Nero began to move his right leg, tapping it slowly then moving it more rapidly almost as if his body was willing him to move but he was fighting with himself not to.

The battle finally won out and Nero turned away from Dante walking out into the main road. "Where are you going kid?" He could hear Dante ask, followed with the sound of footsteps behind him. A sound so soft that if it would have been any human they would have not heard it.

"A place to stay for the night, as you said I've had a rough day." Nero looked up and down the street, trying to decide which way to go. As if looking just left and right would ultimately show him where a hotel would be.

"There's a hotel, a few streets over. Take a right when you get to the intersection that doesn't look as seedy as this, trust me you'll be able to tell." Dante stood just a few feet away from Nero, waiting to see if he was going to head where he told him. Nero did just as Dante said and began walking away from the alley out into the street which seemed even more deserted than it did earlier.

Half way down the street Nero turned around to look at Dante who was walking away in the opposite direction. Nero stood there watching the red leather move in almost a liquid way in the night. Dante was walking at a slow pace, almost too leisure to be walking through this part of town. Nero opened his mouth to say something, the burning in his throat and mouth had quickly come back to him. Nero closed his mouth, not even knowing what he wanted to say, even if he did he didn't know if he could get the words to come out. One thought came to his mind; _Will I see you again? _So similar to what Nero had asked Dante a year ago.

Almost as if Dante knew what he was thinking, he lifted up his index and middle finger and moved them in a type of waving gesture as he kept on walking. Nero shook his head lightly before turning around to continue his walk to the location Dante had given him.

Nero found the hotel with out much trouble, only heading down a wrong street once. The hotel was out of the part of town that he was just in, but not quite in the part of the city that offered sky high buildings. Nero slid the electronic key into the door of the room that he bought for the night. A green light illuminated indicating that the door was unlocked. A soft click and Nero opened up the door to the room, the light inside turning on by his presence. With the door shut and locked behind him Nero began to set his things down, noticing that his body seemed a little sore from the evenings events, the muscles stretching and burning with every movement he made. Even the work outs that he did every did didn't seem to compare to an actual fight.

The room had a large bed in the middle of it, covered in an all white thick duvet. The rest of the furniture in the room was black, most of it with points and severe corners. The furniture looking strange to what Nero was accustomed to. Nero stripped himself off most of his clothes, except for the lose black fabric of the boxers that hung from his skin. He knew that he should take a shower but couldn't find the energy to do it. The soft fabric of the duvet ran across the backside of his skin on his arms, wrapping itself on his back and legs. Nero took in a deep breath, the burning in his throat seemed to have subsided.

The night kept replaying in his head, the whole day really. Even the day before seemed like something that happened months ago, nothing something that was just hours before. Every time his mind made it back to Dante, the burning flared up again, flames licking their way up his throat and into his mouth. Nero clinched the duvet in his hands, he couldn't feel the soft fabric through the cloth covering his demon arm. The burning in his throat grew to where it felt like someone had lit a fire inside of him, a pain that Nero had never experienced before.

The fire inside of him seemed to have a connection with Dante. Nero struggled most of the night to not think about it, tossing and turning with his mind not making any sense of what was going on.

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><p><strong>AN:<strong> Fun fact, Tony Redgrave is in fact an alias of Dante. It was a name he used before he came to terms with being Dante. The engraving is on the side of Ebony and Ivory from the person who made the guns for him, Nell. This is mentioned in the novel and very briefly in one of the episodes of the anime. I figured I should explain it because I personally thought what a random fucking name for an alias. Then again I also heard it was the name that was suppose to be used in Resident Evil 4 before they decided that the game was too far from the franchise to make it and thus turned the game into Devil May Cry and Tony Redgrave into Dante.


	6. Overturn

AN: Thanks for the reviews! I was trying not to fall asleep while writing this chapter this morning. I had to wake up really earlier to do some errands and when I came back I started typing this out. Omg at first there were so many grammatical errors. I was like wtf was I thinking this morning? I kill myself sometimes. I didn't think about going this direction with the story but today when I started typing this is what came out so I guess my brain ended up having different ideas.

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><p>Dante sat at his desk in the office of Devil May Cry, magazines sprawled out in front of him. All of them open to random pages, the pictures and words were nothing but a blur to Dante. His eyes were focused on them but at the same time distant. It was the only distraction he had for himself at the moment. Even the music coming from the jukebox in the corner of the room didn't seem to be reaching his ears. Nothing but a muffled buzzing was cutting through to him.<p>

Lady had stopped coming around as often as she used to. Her stops at Devil May Cry were once frequent and most of the time they involved easy banter as she disassembled her weapons. Even that nervous habit of hers became less frequent the more time she had spent at the office.

That was at least six months ago though from what Dante could remember. Time seemed to have no meaning now. Days just lapped into one another, none of them having any significant importance.

Over time it became harder for the both of them to maintain the once easy friendship. What once felt to Dante, a relationship as easy a breathing now felt like more of a forced task. For the first few months of the deterioration Lady tried her hardest with him. She even started doing things she hadn't before hoping that it would shake Dante out of the constant quiet that he lived in. She would bring him food along with his favorite magazines, she even tried giving him the not so terrible missions, only giving him the ones that paid above average and didn't involve traveling to small islands.

Something wasn't right though, her acts of kindness were feeling more forced to her too. Dante never seemed to notice her different moods when she came in though. The silence that started to fall between them was no longer the comfortable silence shared between two friends. Lady could feel it every time they were in the same room, the heavy weight falling between them.

After months of their slow deterioration and one particular long day of watching Dante stare with empty worn eyes at magazines, Lady stormed out of the office without one word to him. At the time her mind was screaming at her to say every terrible thing she could think of at him but she bit her tongue knowing that regardless of what she said it wouldn't change how he had been acting. The stomping of her footsteps weren't enough to distract him, it was only until he heard the front door to his office slam shut rattling the windows surrounding it that he finally looked up to see what had happened.

He was aware how hard Lady had been trying but even over time he couldn't bring himself to force on the conversations anymore. Lady resorted to only coming into the office to give Dante a few jobs here and there, walking into the store only to toss a piece of paper on his desk with the details of the jobs. Every time she walked into the shop, her human footsteps loud against the wooden floor, Dante searched for something to say to her. This was the woman who he met so many years ago when she was still just a young girl filled with conviction. He felt like this should be easier, this was one of the very few people still alive that ever saw him as who he really was, so why was trying to talk to her so hard?

That morning she had dropped a piece of paper off, not even bothering to greet Dante. He watched her walk out of the door, a habit he tended to have now. Waiting to see if he could bring himself to say something to her. _I'm sorry things are this way right now. _The words were so clear in his head, so loud that each time she walked in he was convinced that he had said the words to her. Along with so many others. When she left though with out saying anything he knew that he never said spoken.

Trish's visits were less frequent than Lady's, choosing to take a lot of jobs outside of the city's limits. The silence that was between Trish and Dante was less severe. Trish never questioned it. She saw the distance in his eyes, the way he carried himself now when he was inside the comfort of his home. Trish may not have understood exactly why it was that Dante had become this way but she new better than to try to force anything with him. She saw how hard Lady had been trying with him, knowing how Lady's frustration was just building inside of her. It wasn't like Lady to be doing such things, she only tried because really Dante was the only person she had left that actually knew who she was.

Trish may not have known what it was that was eating away at Dante now but she understood better than anyone the weight of the job that they did. The actions that they made along with the repercussions. How hard it is watching everyone around you leave, some of them not being able to come back, watching their deaths. For Trish she knew she could never love anyone because of the possibilities of what could happen if she did. Trish had been doing this long enough to know that nothing but destruction would come out of it.

She also knew better than anyone that Dante saw more than his share of trauma in his life yet he was always able to go around with the appearance that the world could never touch him. There was only so long that you can put on a façade until you eventually get tired of trying. Trish watched him the nights that he decided to go out into the city to look for demons to hunt. Those were the days that he needed the feel of the kill, just because he needed to feel something. There were nights where he tried to be himself, to taunt the demons with his usual wit. It wasn't the same though so some nights he didn't even try to be the demon hunter who walked around with so much confidence and cockiness that any demon with in the city limits was sure to feel his presence.

Trish never said anything to him, just as he never said anything to her even though she was sure that he could feel her the nights that she did watch him roam around the city. She came into the shop quietly every now and then, a few times a month at the least. She rarely ever came with jobs for him though knowing that he could get them on his own and with Lady just fine. Her visits to Devil May Cry involved her bring in a few groceries for Dante knowing that he would be reluctant to go get them on his own. She would prepare food for him for the week leaving it in containers in the fridge, something that before hand she rarely ever did. Trish would pick up around the office and the kitchen that was hidden from view at the back of the store. Trying to at least make it look presentable if anyone besides her and Lady would ever want to come in.

There were a few times that Trish's eyes would flicker towards the staircase wondering if she should survey the damage that was sure to be inevitable if she were to go up there. The only time that Trish had spoken to him recently was to threaten Dante that he if didn't at least do his own laundry she would be forced to go up to his room to gather the clothes herself. Dante didn't respond but the next time that she came in she could see that the wrinkles were out of his clothes and the discoloration of days of wear on them wasn't as severe. Trish wouldn't have minded doing his laundry too but there was something about going up to his room to gather the items that bothered her. There was something about his room that just felt like she was invading who he was.

She just hoped that with time he would be able to bring himself back to who he was.

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><p>The sun began streaming in through the thin white curtains of the hotel window. The heat of the day heating up the patches of skin on Nero that the light was touching. Nero stirred in his sleep, his muscles aching in protest. The blankets on the bed crumpled beneath him as he didn't bother to get under them last night. Nero squeezed his eyes tightly in an attempt to pretend that he wasn't awake. The backs of his eyelids were already a bright orange indicating that no matter how hard he tried he was awake.<p>

Nero opened his eyes and immediately regretted it. The white curtains along with the white blankets in the room gave a harsh light to it with the sun breaking through. He blinked rapidly a few times getting his eyes to adjust to the bright white glow of the room. With the harsh light came with it the remembrance that Nero was covered in the dirt from yesterday along with the possibility of demon blood. He reluctantly climbed out of the bed, stumbling as he made his way to the bathroom. The true weight of the fight breaking through his muscles.

The light in the bathroom turned on at Nero's presence. He walked over to the counter where a mirror expanded the length of the wall. Nero leaned onto the counter, resting both of his hands at the edge of it. He looked at the worn look on his eyes, the tired light purple rings that were starting to make their way to the surface. Nero began to scan the rest of his body to see if there were any differences that happened within the past day. As if leaving Fortuna had caused a significant change in his appearance, that maybe his young features would make him look older. His white hair was in a disheveled mess resting upon his head. Nero kept looking over his appearance, there was no difference though.

Nero's eyes caught onto the white bandage that twisted its way up to his shoulder. Small pools of red, yellow and a sickly green color were threading their way through the fabric displaying odd shaped stains. Nero reached out to touch his covered demon arm with his hand, the light touch was enough to make him flinch. With the events that had happened he hadn't bothered to change the bandage, he also hadn't noticed how much the fabric was rubbing and irritating his demonic skin.

When Nero first started bandaging his arm the cloth never seemed to bother him. Over time it became harder for his arm to breathe, even with the few hours that it was given at night. There were times where the irritation on his flesh would flare up making it hard for him to bandage it. He would have to bite through the pain though because every time that he had it uncovered in the comfort of being inside of his quarters he would remember Kyrie's eyes and how she looked at him with disdain. The irritation had been flaring up recently, it was something Nero was getting used to healing back up.

He began to unwrap the bandage, slowly peeling away each layer as it spun up his arm. The layers peeled away until he finally got to the bottom one which was more drenched in fluids than the other ones. Nero slowly began peeling at the last thing layer of gauze, some parts of it sticking to the raw flesh of his demon arm. He threw the gauze onto the floor in disgust as a burning pain of air hitting his damaged arm.

Nero went over to the glass shower, turning the water onto as hot as he could possibly make it. With the remainder of what little clothes he had left on shed, he climbed into the shower. The scorching water pressing against his skin. The water hit hard against his arm, burning as it trickled along cleaning out the worst of the infection. Nero stood in the water letting it hit his flesh, turning his pale skin a bright red from the heat.

Nero's mind started running over the past few days events again, the only thing he seemed to be able to do in his waking hours. With the thoughts of the day before Nero's mind seemed to have a few brief clouded moments in it. He struggled trying to reclaim those few moments that seemed to be lost to him.

_Where the hell is my bike?_ Nero thought as he ran his human hand through his hair with shampoo. One of the moments that was clouded to him came back. Even from the ferry you could see the busy streets of the harbor, indicating how hard it would be to get any type of vehicle through the throng of people. The ferry offered to move vehicles to a small designated parking area by the docks. The man told Nero that when people were traveling out of the harbor they tended to leave their vehicles in a paid area where they could put them until they came back. His mind at the time was in so many other places that he agreed to it, taking a small white ticket and shoving into the pockets of his pants.

Nero planned that after his shower he would go pick up his bike to explore the city from a new point of view.

With his shower done, he wrapped his arm back up in a clean cloth after putting a soothing ointment on it. Not really knowing if it ever had any effect on his demon arm though. He was just thankful that he remembered to pack these things in his haste. Nero dressed in a pair of black jeans, pair with a black shirt, over his shirt he put on his red leather shirt, zipping it up the front. The tight stitching running vertical down the front of the leather showing off Nero's toned body. The early morning sun promised a much warmer day as Nero left his black leather coat laying on the bed. Nero dug in his pants from yesterday, pulling out the small white ticket stating the location of the parking area.

With everything that he was sure he needed, Nero headed out the door to go get his bike and just to see exactly where he had landed himself in now that his mind wasn't as disconnected as it was the day before.


	7. Set Fire to the Rain

AN: Thank you to everyone who has been reading! Also thank you for the reviews/alerts! I woke up early today just so I could write a chapter before work. I'm on workday 8 out of 9 right now. They're trying to kill me, this is my theory. Then I will finally have a day off! I have to do a turnaround tonight though -.- get off at 11:30 then be back at 7 am. Oh! It was so funny the other night when I was closing the store though because I went and hid in the office and tried reading fanfics(I love being a manager lol) but the employees kept bothering me and I was like can't these bitches see I'm trying to read me some DxN ffs?

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><p>The air swirling around Dante gave him the promise of the long winter nights to come. The air held a mixture of lingering summer heat with oncoming cold as a light breeze brushed past Dante, the air slipping through the thin fabric of Dante's shirt without the usual comfort of his red leather coat clinging to his skin. The holster that attached Rebellion to him was also left back at the office, his only weapons on him were Ebony and Ivory in hopes to attract as little attention as possible while he was scouring the city on a job.<p>

Dante had grabbed the piece of paper off of the desk that Lady had dropped off earlier. The paper gave him information of a demon that had been reported multiple times lurking in the park that laid in the middle of the city. All of the police reports filled out though looked like nothing more than everyone seeing the same homeless person wandering around in the park at night, talking to children in attempts to lure them away from their parents. The reports to someone without a knowledge of demons would have never seen the pattern. The location that it always seemed to be in, the time of day that it was. The way the people described how it moved. To the officers that took down the statements always thought that it was always just a person's hysteria that distorted the image in their mind of what actually happened or what the man reported in the park looked like.

Dante spent the rest of the afternoon in the park, watching as families and couples spent their autumn days in a haze unaware of the dangers that were hidden all over the city. The people of this city never really seeing the fractures in its beauty. The park rested in between the sky scraping buildings of the city, offering a small piece of untouched ground. As untouched from man made buildings as it could get. The usually well kempt grass of the park was covered in a layer of bright red, orange and yellow leaves. The leaves on the ground still holding their color from the freshness of their fall, every part of the grass was covered except for the few small gaps in between leaves were the green of the grass poked through. The trees themselves were still full of the leaves as well, all of the green faded from them. From a distance with the breeze blowing through the trees it was easy to imagine that it gave the illusion of the trees being on fire.

Through out the day the sun had disappeared behind a onslaught of grey tinted clouds. It was easy to track the movement of the sun behind them though. The sun now held its position to the west, hiding now behind the buildings. The light from the sun tried to fight its way through the thick clouds that were holding rain. Streaks of orange ran through the clouds as they pushed against the dark grey that the rays couldn't reach. Dante watched the display for dominance in the sky, letting the time go past as families and couples started to clear the park in hopes to escape the threat of rain the loomed over them.

The sun eventually set leaving the night sky completely clouded. The lights in the park gave off a soft orange glow, making the autumn leaves look more of a crimson color in the night. The park was completely empty now, giving Dante a better advantage of listening for the demon. He began his circle around the park, taking his time to look around for the demon's nesting area. Halfway around the park he noticed a small hill that dipped down into an area that was covered in plants.

Dante walked down the small hill, carefully examining the thick plants as he got closer. The smell in the area was different than the crisp air above, down there it smelt more like sulfur was tingeing the air covering up the smell of the fresh fallen leaves. The odor was strong, indicating that the demon was nearby or had been very recently. Dante moved the bushes aside, their branches stiff as he moved them. Under the thick covering that they offered rested a small hole dug into the earth. The hole was no more then four feet deep, most likely just an area where the demon slept while he was out here in the park. He left the bushes fall back into place as he looked around the hill once more for a sign of the demon.

With the hill offering no more evidence of the demon Dante began his descent back up the hill. A loud noise shot through the silent night air. The buildings surrounding the park giving it an echo. Dante immediately placed the sound of the noise the second after it cut through his ears.

_Gun shot._

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><p>Nero spent his day riding around the city, he never even go to see the full extent of it though since he had chosen to ride around most of the time was spent sitting in traffic that literally never seemed to move. The latter part of his afternoon after he had stopped off at a small eatery was spent in blur of sitting on his bike with his feet pressed to the ground as cars continued to honk at each other. The lack of movement was causing his mind to wander, something that he was desperately trying to avoid. The heat from the sun faded eventually as thick grey clouds rolled into the city giving Nero at least an escape from the beating rays of the sun. A small relief from the irritation building inside of him.<p>

Past the buildings that people were now swarming out of to get off of were, there was a park up to the left that offered an escape to the never ending bumper to bumper traffic. All Nero needed was just a few feet then he would be able to get out of there. Minutes passed that he didn't move, a small ache starting in his upper back from sitting on his bike in one spot all afternoon. Nero began looking around almost frantically, hoping that he would see some change in the scenery or some small opportunity to escape. The sidewalks weren't as full now that post people had left from work, it gave him just enough room.

Nero revved the throttle, the engine roaring to life after being idle for so long. The bike sped forward, giving him enough speed to go over the curb of the sidewalk. The people left of the sidewalk joined in screams as they jumped out of the way of the man on the bike who was wearing a crooked grin across his features at getting out of that mess. Nero made it up to the intersection where he was able to see that cars from all directions had gridlocked the intersection so even if a light was green no one would be moving. Nero zigzagged his way through a small gap in the cars that were attempting to turn right as he got onto another sidewalk.

The sidewalk ran along a small black iron fence that surrounded the park. Around the back side of the park he could see a small parking lot where a few cars were. Nero parked his bike, a small worry passing him as the clouds in the sky had turned to an even darker grey, a promise that rain would soon come down on his bike. Nero silently cursed himself for not packing a cover in the seat of the bike.

The high noon sun had well passed set and the remnants of it lingered on the edge of the horizon. The rest of the sky had well passed turned to night, the rest of the sky working it way to claim the orange that still hung in the sky. Nero was finally able to get a full view of the park as he walked passed to large wrought iron gates that were opened at the entrance. The ground was littered in leaves, all of them freshly fallen from the wind that had blown through the park earlier that day. Every step he took was onto a disarray of red, orange and yellow. He kept his eyes to the ground, taking in every inch of the ground; his mind immediately comparing this park to Fortuna.

There was fall in Fortuna, the weather was never like this though. Even in fall the weather was warm. The few trees that lined the main streets of the city would shed their summer skin giving it the same hues as the park. When the leaves began to fall though they barely had time to collect on the ground. City workers or shop keepers would clean them up as to not obstruct the beauty of the city. The trees that lined the streets also didn't compare in size to these trees that seemed to grow tall and wide. When Nero thought about it he guessed he had never really seen the season before.

Nero began to walk around the park, the night sky out now even as it was hidden behind the clouds giving the sky a mucky look. The light from the lamp posts cast against the trees giving the leaves a much darker color in the night. The leaves now looked more brown and red as they contrasted against the fake light. The first few feet of walking were sore on his legs after they had been in the same position all day, he kept walking getting the muscles more adjusted.

The fresh fallen leaves gave the air an earthy smell. The slow decay of the leaves giving away the aroma. The scent in the air slowly began to change, the earthy smell fading away as a sulfur one began to claim it. Nero crunched up his nose in disgust, a shock from the pleasantness of autumn. Nero tried to figure out where the smell had been coming from, he had stopped walking as he tried to place the smell. Nero took in a deep breath, the sulfur stinging his nose now.

_Why does it smell so familiar?_

A sharp pain ripped through Nero's shoulder. The demon flesh ripping and tearing under pressure. There was a weight on his back and Nero winced in pain as the tearing in his shoulder became more severe. Nero threw the attacker over himself quickly, even with the burn that was now in his arm.

Before Nero crouched a demon with another look of a human to it. The human skin was plagued with grey and green hues to it. Tufts of the discolored flesh peeling of its face along with the rest of his body, revealing bright red muscle tissue as it was covered in fresh blood. The hair on the demon was ripped out in chunks leaving bloodied patches along his scalp. The clothes were dirty, covered in old blood and dirt. Stains of dark red and black streaked across the wrinkled clothes. The smell of rotting flesh traced with the sulfur through the air.

Nero reached into his holster quickly for Blue Rose firing off a shot quickly into the demon's arm. The demon screamed out in pain, a wail emitting from its mouth. Nero noticed that its jaw was unhinged, hanging loosely as it screamed.

_How the fuck did it get such a good bite on me then?_ Nero quickly pressed his hand up against his shoulder. The demon flesh pouring blood down his arm. The gauze that covered is arm was completely drenched on his upper arm, spreading its way down.

The demon lurched for Nero, its body on all fours before it went soaring through the air. Nero pulled the trigger on Blue Rose again sending a bullet right through the demon's stomach. A spray of blood shot up in the air as the bullet went through the flesh. The crimson liquid scattering across the lamp post behind them.

The pain in Nero's arm was burning now, as if someone had set fire to his blood while it coursed through his body. Nero winced again as the pain pumped its way through his Devil Bringer. The body laid on the ground, crumbled in a heap as the body convulsed with blood pouring out of it collecting itself on the leaves scattered across the ground.

Another fire shot off but it wasn't Nero who had pulled the trigger. Nero looked around to see a few feet away from the demon's body a man dressed in all black, his white hair giving off a orange glow against the street lights.

"Glad to see you decided to step in this time." Nero said as he pressed his human hand against the wound in his shoulder. Blood still seeping its way out even with the pressure his hand supplied. His voice caught on this last word but Nero attributed that to the fact that his whole arm felt like the flesh was burning.

"Well it looked like you weren't figuring out that you have to shoot this type in the head for it go down." Dante replied as he tucked Ebony pack into the holster.

Nero let out a small half laugh, his mind more focused on the pain the seemed to be spreading its way away from his arm that was now going numb and into the rest of his body.

"Did it bite you?" Dante's voice bled with a hint of concern as he took a step towards Nero.

"Yeah it came up behind me while I was walking. I guess being out of action for a year I have gotten out of the habit of being able to sense when there's a fucking demon right behind me." The pain continued to spread fast, almost as if it was literally running through his blood stream. The scorching pain reaching his heart where the beat picked up pace, pounding hard against his.

"We need to get…" The sound of Dante's voice was cut off from Nero. His lips still moving but the only thing Nero could hear was the pounding of his own heart in his head. His blood working its way furiously through his body. Nero ground his teeth together as his human had feel limply at his side, his legs giving way beneath him as his knees crashed onto the hard concrete of the path.

The clouds above opened as a light rain began to trickle down washing the blood down Nero's arm and onto the ground. The rain felt hot against his skin, the small light drops turning into harsh fast ones as the sky began to pour. Time seemed to be moving slower, the beating in his heart still working faster than anything else around him. Nero's vision narrowed as he watched Dante quickly move down next to Nero at almost the same time his body was trying to connect with the sidewalk. The edges of his vision became black as he tried to fight to keep his eyes focused.

The beating in his chest seemed to slow as time seemed to be able to move even slower. His body was completely numb to touch now, the only thing he could feel was the searing that didn't seem to have an end. The beating in his heart moved to a slow rhythm, each beat moving further apart from one another as each one seemed to grow louder in Nero's own ears. A final loud _thud _resounded in Nero's head as his vision fully went black.


	8. Delirium

AN: After much deliberation in my head and many hours of going through notes that I have been scribbling down I think I finally decided on the plot to this(yeah I didn't have one before this, I was just kind of writing). But I sat down and went through a lot of ideas and finally am very happy with where I am going to take this. It makes me giddy cause only I know :D

Thanks for the reviews/alerts! I do not on Devil May Cry. If I did I would turn the whole franchise into a yaoi fangirls dream.

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><p>Dante watched Nero as he laid on the couch, lying completely still. Beads of sweat rolled down his forehead as his body tried to fight off a fever. Dante paced back and forth across the office, his mind too occupied for him to even pretend to read one of his magazines. Dante stopped pacing, he walked over to the couch. There was a small space on one of the cushions near Nero's waist. Dante carefully sat down on the couch, not wanting to risk disturbing Nero's body. Dante looked down at the younger man, the beads of sweat more prominent on his features now. Dante moved his hand up to the zipper of Nero's red vest. His hand lingered on the cool metal, hesitant to take the clothing off of him but knowing that in order to take care of the wounds he was going to have to move the younger devil hunter.<p>

The sound of footsteps outside of the office caused Dante to stand on his feet, waiting for the front door to open.

After Nero had collapsed in the park Dante had thrown him into the back seat of his car, speeding home through the almost empty streets of the city. The second he had made it back to Devil May Cry he called Trish.

"I need you here, now." His voice was strained when he called her. It was enough for Trish to know that she needed to be there as quickly as possible.

At the time that she received the call, Trish was back in town staying at her apartment on the upper east side. Within minutes so was over at the office, ready to deal with whatever Dante was about to throw at her as she walked up to the front door.

Trish now stood in front of the couch looking down at the younger man. His skin looked pale and tight as it was pulled against his bones. The only true color to his features were his burning cheeks flushed a deep red. "I never thought I would see the kid again." Trish leaned down next to him, the back of her hand immediately touching his forehead. The heat radiating off of him telling her what she already knew.

"Neither did I but I just happened to run into him the other day." Dante continued to slowly pace between the staircase and the area by the kitchen. Not knowing what else to do with himself.

"I'm a little surprised that you called me. You've seen enough wounds to know how to bandage them." There was a small irritation to Trish's voice, something that Dante hadn't heard from her in a while. She hadn't spoken to him in weeks, even though most of her time was spent as his place. She was hoping that when he did choose to speak to her that it would have been under different circumstances. Trish sighed, knowing that she couldn't hold it against Nero.

"Wounds, yeah but you know just as well as I do that he should have healed already." Dante stopped walking aimlessly across the room to look over at Trish who was on her knees leaning over Nero.

"I'm going to need you to lift him up so I can get his shirts off of him." Trish looked up at Dante who was now standing right next to her. Dante moved his hand back onto the metal of Nero's red leather vest. His hand paused for a moment before finally pulling it down. He could feel Trish behind him, watching his every movement. He assumed it was because she was trying to see if he was capable of doing this since he hadn't been capable of much else lately.

_This is Nero. _Dante looked down at the younger man once more before finally unzipping the vest. He bent down next to Nero. Dante moved his arms underneath Nero's warm body. He kept one arm under his back, giving him a few inches of elevation off of the couch. Dante used his free arm to carefully peel away the vest from Nero. The fabric slid easily down his loose arms. Dante discarded the fabric off to the side as he continued to keep Nero elevated. Trish moved next to Dante as she worked on taking off Nero's thin black shirt. She began slowly to peel away his shirt that was sticking to his chest with a mixture of sweat and blood. She moved the shirt up his body, pushing the fabric up to his chest. Dante had to reposition his arms so Trish could get the shirt the rest of the way off of Nero. He moved his hands down onto Nero's toned stomach. His callused his felt smooth against Nero's lithe body. Dante quickly moved his hands to rest against Nero's back. Dante's body inches closer to Nero's now as he held the man close to him, his arms now underneath his back once more. The bandage that Nero had placed on his arm earlier that day was also covered in the same mixture as his shirt. His bandages held a more sickly color to them, green and yellow stains on the gauze were the only difference. Dante looked at the cloth covering Nero's arm, a small sick feeling coming over him. It wasn't from the discoloration of the fabric but more of the thought as to why he was even wearing it. With his shirt completely off of him, Dante carefully laid Nero back down onto the couch. He moved away quickly, back over to his desk. Trish looked at Dante for a moment, a small flash of confusion passing over her at his sudden abruptness. Trish let it go as she focused her attention back on Nero.

Trish started to pull away the long strip of gauze, she pressed one hand down to his devil arm as she slowly started to peel away the fabric. Pieces of the cloth were getting caught into the worse part of the wounds. "There's a really bad infection in his arm, but it looks as if the infection has been here for a while." With the rest of the gauze pulled away Trish looked at his devil arm, patches of peeling away flesh covered his arm. A large gash embedded Nero's shoulder, deep crimson still flowing out of it.

"What bit him?" Trish asked as she pressed a fresh hot cloth to Nero's shoulder, applying pressure to stop the bleeding.

"A mortous demon. It was in a transition of shedding a new human skin." Dante replied to her, his eyes still fixed on Nero who was now letting out a soft groan of pain.

"So the demon was looking for Nero's skin as a new one to walk around in. Well the parlays poison is working its way through his body. Within a few hours he should completely stop moving, give him two to three days and the poison should be completely out of his system. His arm though… it needs to be taken care of. I don't know why it isn't healing its self. I'm assuming he has kept this bandage on it for some time, the arm hasn't been able to breathe. I would have thought that it wouldn't have mattered though. You'll need to keep cleaning his arm, its going to be leaking fluids while he is in this state and I'm not going to cover it back up." Trish took a second cloth and wiped at Nero's infected devil arm.

"Clean his arm?" Dante asked, his eyes moving from Nero to Trish who was looking up at him from the floor.

"Yes, obviously he can't do it himself." Trish continued to clean up Nero's arm, wiping away hours of dried blood mixed with fresh flowing crimson. The flesh on his chest was tinted with dark blue and black veins spreading from his shoulder, down his chest and across his neck.

"I just thought that…" Dante moved his hand behind his head, his arm up in the air as he tried explaining to Trish what he thought was going to happen.

"That what? I would be here to take care of the both of you? I have a job that I already said I would take in the morning." Trish didn't bother to look at Dante as she kept dapping away at the irritated flesh.

"Well…yeah. I mean I don't really think that I'm qualified to be taking care of anyone."

Trish tried not to roll her eyes, a habit she had been picking up from Lady more often than she wanted to admit. "You'll be fine." Trish knew there wouldn't be a problem leaving Dante alone with the boy, even if Dante hadn't really even been taking care of himself lately. "It will be simple. All you need to do is check on him every few hours, make sure his fever doesn't get worse. It should break within a few hours though. You'll just need to clean up his arm, the only bandage I want him to have on is one up on his shoulder. I'm hoping with some fresh air and medication that he'll be able to heal himself a lot faster."

"He shouldn't even have to take medication. What the hell am I suppose to give him Trish? Its not like I keep this stuff just lying around the place." Dante gestured around his cleaned up office, the only disturbance was the clutter on top of his desk.

"You think that I don't think of these things? I keep it in my car, I'll go grab it." It was rare that Trish has any type of argument with Dante that didn't revolve around a job. Arguing with him felt wrong to her but there was something about the situation and how Dante was acting that was getting to her. She racked her brain trying to place what it was that she felt was so wrong about it but nothing was coming to her.

Trish walked back into the office a moment later to see Dante standing in the same exact spot that she had left him in. His arm still behind his head as he looked down at Nero on the couch. "Do you see the veins that are darkened around his arm? The infection has made its way into his blood stream, its slowly spreading underneath his skin. The venom from the demon has sped up the process because its weekend his body even more than it already was. Just give it a few days, if his condition really does worsen just call me. I'll try to make it back as soon as I can."

Trish walked out of the door with no more further explanation to Dante. A few moments later a small medical kit laid open on the coffee table next to the couch. Dante sighed as he looked down at Nero who's face was perfectly still. Sweat was still sliding down his face. Dante wondered if the boy could feel any pain with the venom pumping its way through his veins. The only movement he could see from Nero now was the rapid movement of his eyes behind his eyelids.

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><p>Nero could faintly hear words breaking through his consciousness. He couldn't place the voices for they sounded nothing more than muffled noise to him. The pain that he had been feeling earlier was starting to creep its way back into certain parts of his body. He was aware of the pain of his heart moving slowly behind his chest. Each beat felt as if he was bruising his ribcage. All of the feeling on the right side of his body was gone now, the rest of the numbness inching its way through his body.<p>

The real fight he had been waging was with his mind the past few hours. The pain of his body was a welcome from the place that his mind had been taking him when his body decided the pain was too excruciating. He could feel his consciousness slipping from him once again. He wanted to thrash his body in attempts to stay awake but he could only feel the movement of his fingers on his left hand. The pain coursing through his body slipped away as his mind took him to a different place.

The setting was completely different, from a different time. The edges of his dream seemed to be covered in a layer of haze. The rest of the dream was clear. Too clear for Nero's liking, mostly because he knew he was reliving a memory.

A very young Nero ran through tall blades of grass. The long blades grazing his exposed ankles as he ran. The white lochs that covered Nero's head were a dark chocolate brown, his eyes not the dark blue that he was used to seeing now but more of a emerald. Nero ran around the grassy yard of the house that he grew up in. Kyrie was in the backyard with him, playing on a small swing that was handing from a tree branch of a large tree that grew near the end of the yard.

"Lets play dress up! I can play a bride and we can get married!" Kyrie giggled as she swung lightly back and forth.

"Kyrie, we're eight. You do know that right?" Nero said as he stopped running through the backyard. The imaginary friend he had been chasing disappearing completely from his sight.

"Of course silly! Its only pretend. We'll get married when we're older, this will just be practice." Kyrie smiled as she jumped down from her swing heading toward the back entrance to the house. Just as she was about to open the door Credo stepped out onto the patio. His black hair hanging down in front of his face, something that changed after he joined the Order. Kyrie stood in front of him, looking at the two members of the Order standing behind him.

"Nero, you're needed for you're appointment." Credo looked over at the young boy who was standing still in the middle of the tall grass. The sun rays catching his dark brown hair giving it dark golden hues. Nero remembered that they had been telling him about his important appointment coming up. Nero didn't think much of it at the time, every time that they had told him he had been too preoccupied in his own world. Nero realized the reality of it when he saw the two Order members step out from behind Credo. Nero's heart starting pounding against his chest. The blood flowing through his veins making his hands start to tingle.

Nero walked over to where everyone was standing, taking slow cautious steps. Kyrie could see the hesitation and fear mixed in his eyes. Kyrie ran over to Nero, placing her small hand in his. She walked with him the rest of the way across the yard.

"Can we walk him there?" Kyrie asked as she looked up at Credo, her eyes pleading with his. Credo looked down at both of the children, a fear clearly hanging over both of them.

"Of course we can." Credo reached down, taking Nero's other hand in his own. His small fingers clasped around Credo's hand. Nero's hand was clammy, something that Credo wanted to wipe off of his own hand. Instead Credo clinched Nero's hand in a tight reassuring way.

They walked a few blocks through the city. The two members of the Order walking in front of them the whole time. The walk was silent as they weaved in and out of city blocks. Nero recognized the building, even at his young age. The lab research facilities stood out against the old structures of Fortuna. The building was pure white, a simple one story building. The building ran long though to make up for what it didn't have in height. The lab facilities were a newer addition to the city. A place where they were trying to bring more modern medicine and technology to the city. At least that is what the city was told when the labs were being built.

One of the Order members held open the glass door to the facility. Nero looked up at Credo who gave him one last squeeze of his hand. Nero looked to Kyrie who was now looking at him with a clear fear in her eyes showing. He couldn't let her feel that way, he couldn't bare to see her afraid. Nero threw on a smile, hoping that it was enough to dissipate the same look of fear that he had been wearing.

"It will be ok Kyrie. Its just an appointment…a small check up really." Nero flashed her a quick grin. The small act was enough to change her mood completely. A smile quickly appeared on her face as Kyrie threw her arms around Nero embracing him in a tight hug. Nero wrapped his arms around her, hugging her back in reassurance.

_I need to be strong for her. _

The only thought Nero had before walking into the building, leaving his family behind.

The next images passed through his mind quickly. Never staying long enough for him to grasp on to the memories of the day. They images seemed to slow though as he came to the one memory that stood out more vividly than the rest.

Nero laid on a cool metal examine table. Countless doctors and surgeons working over Nero, white lab coats mixed with sea foam green scrubs. He remembered before hand the doctors talking about not using a anesthetic for fear of it medication working against the procedure. At the time Nero had no idea what they were talking about, using words and terms he had never heard of before.

He laid on the table, remembering that he wouldn't show fear. Not even as one of the surgeons picked up a pristine scalpel, making a long incision into Nero's right arm. Nero bit the inside of his mouth, copper tasting liquid rushing against his tongue. He could feel a pressure on the inside of his arm, his eyes wandering to where the pain was coming from. Metal needles pinned the skin to his arm open as the surgeons continued to work over him. Nero's eyes opened wide in fear as he saw the man reach into his arm with metal tools pulling away at muscle tissue. Nero screamed loudly, the pain in his arm stinging. He told himself that he would be strong for her but the pain was becoming unbearable. Nero screamed again, this time tears streamed down his face. With his screams he could hear the familiar ones of a girl.

_She must have stayed._

"Kyrie run!" Nero couldn't bare the thought of Kyrie still being in the labs, hearing the things that were going on behind these closed doors. _I have to be strong for her._ Nero repeated to himself as he once again bit the inside of his mouth to stifle his screams. The pain eventually became so unbearable that he could feel himself fading from the procedure and out of the operating room. He just kept repeating to himself the only thing he could to help he get through this.

_I have to be strong for her. _


	9. Hush

AN: Thanks for the reviews/alerts/reading this story. This one is going to be really short but I decided to post it as it rather than wait another day or two to add on to it because of work and responsibility. I told my boyfriend to go play Call of Duty so I could write this lol. I do not on DMC, I wish I did thought because I would revoke the right of the fifth game to be released and fire all the people at activision who thought that it was ok to make Dante look not sexy.

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><p>The only sound in the office was the quiet breathing between Dante and Nero. Dante resorted to sitting on the floor by the coffee table, close enough to check on Nero but not too close as to be sitting right next to him. Their breathing matched one another's, sometime through out the night becoming sync. The slow rise and fall of Nero's chest was the only indicator that he was even alive. His body laid perfectly still, the venom having fully worked its way through his body now.<p>

Dante moved closer to Nero as he realized it was time to clean the wound on his arm. He lifted up Nero's demon arm into his hand. The skin on his arm was coarse on Dante's human flesh. He held the arm in his hand for a moment, gently moving Nero's arm to look at the areas of infection. The wounds were dominant against the black and red flesh. Scabs of mixtures of blood and pus as his body tried to fight off the infections covering his arm.

"What are you doing to yourself kid?" Dante whispered out loud as he continued to look at Nero's arm. Dante lightly ran the tips of his fingers across the rough flesh. The tips of his fingers began to tingle lightly. Dante looked down at his fingers, the tips of them giving off the same feeling of being asleep or when your adrenaline starts running so fast that parts of your body start to get that light feeling. It wasn't from either of those things though as Dante could feel the steady beat of his heart under his chest. His fingers lingered on the blue pulsing of the Devil Bringer. The prickle began to spread its way up his fingers and into the palm of his hand the longer it rested there.

Dante pressed his palm flat against the flesh, letting the feeling spread its way up higher to his arm. A small sigh of breath escaped Nero's lightly parted lips. Dante quickly pulled his hand away as he looked down at Nero who was still just as lifeless as a moment ago.

_What am I doing?_ Dante looked down at Nero again, his face perfectly still. The sweat from his fever had stopped indicating that the fever must have broken recently. Dante grabbed a tube of ointment out of the open medical kit on the coffee table. He squeezed the amber tinted ointment onto his fingertips. Dante let his hand hover for a brief moment above Nero's arm before he finally pressed his fingers onto an irritated part of the flesh. His fingers mixed the ointment on the breaking skin, small trickles of blood sliding out from under the scab.

Dante continued to clean Nero's arm until every inch of the infected flesh had the healing ointment on it. The feeling that was in his fingers had made its way up to the end of Dante's arm and was spreading its way to his chest now. He moved Nero's arm to rest on his bare chest. Dante abruptly stood up from the floor, quickly making his way into the kitchen.

He turned on the kitchen sink, letting the cool water run over his hands. The mixture of antibiotic ointment and blood ran down the drain, off of his hands. His hands stayed under the water long after the blood was washed off of them. With the water turned to as cold as it could possibly be he left his hands under it. He turned them over to stare at his finger tips. The small tingle still lingered in them. The cold of the water was starting to numb his hands but the feeling still resting under his fingers stayed there. He left his hands under the water until the cold of it began to fade as his body became used to the water and the skin on his fingers began to wrinkle. His hopes that the water would wash away the feeling was slowly slipping from him.

Dante shut the water off before heading back into the main area of the office. Without bothering to try off his hands he stood in the middle of the room looking between the area on the floor where he had spent the past few hours and his desk. A few minutes passed before he finally decided on going back to his desk where he was able to trust himself not to go back over to Nero where he was tempted to have his hand touch the pulsing arm again.

With the chair pulled back to almost the wall he sat down, putting his feet up on the desk while he rested his head against the wall. His eyes rested on the young man on the couch. His blonde hair slightly disheveled, the long parts of the front of it covering his closed eyes.

The curtains on the windows were starting to show the early morning light breaking through. Dante rubbed his eyes knowing that he needed to get some semblance of sleep soon. A few more minutes passed all the while Dante kept his gaze on Nero making sure that he still saw the slow rise and fall of his chest.

His eyelids began to grow heavy, the sleep now threatening to overtake him. Dante stood up from the desk, kicking the chair back into place. Lying across the pool table in the far corner off the room was his red leather coat. He quickly picked it up, rolling it up into the shape of a flattened ball. He laid down on the wooden floor, directly next to the couch in the small area between the couch and the coffee table. With his jacket for his pillow he laid his head down, his eyes somehow growing heavier now that his body was starting to relax.

Dante lifted his hand up to Nero's devil arm. His fingers hovering in the air for a moment. He pressed the pads of his fingers onto Nero's arm once more. A slow pulsing began to run under his finger tips. The sensation of the prickling came back stronger now, the feeling from earlier never having completely faded. With his fingers pressed down harder he could feel the thumping beneath the flesh. It matched evenly with Nero's breathing.

_It's his pulse. _

At first Dante thought that it was a little odd that he could feel his pulse even through the thick skin. With a few more seconds of his hand resting against the soft pulsing, Dante decided to leave his hand there. He told himself that it was just as a reassurance to keep a check on Nero's pulse regardless of feeling spreading from his fingers up to his arm.

With Dante's arm resting up on the side of the couch; his hand lightly grasped around Nero's arm, his eyes began to close. A sleep over took his tired body the only noise left in the room was the once again matched breathing of the two men.


	10. Fire to his Heat

AN: Thank you to everyone who has been reading. I was out on the deck in the backyard this morning typing this and I decided that the sounds of nature aren't enjoyable when trying to write. Shit was distracting. Anyways I hope that the connection of what is going on in this chapter is easy to understand. Just because it was easy to understand in my head doesn't mean it actually is cause well sometimes I think just a little too differently.

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><p>Nero's mind faded between a calming blackness and dream's of repressed memories. The scene was familiar to him, even though it had happened years before. It was one that he hadn't thought about in just as many years though. His dreams were the only place where he had no control over suppressing the memories.<p>

The dream began to play at as if it was currently happening. Nero was at home with Kyrie, the two of them had just went into the drawing room of the house. Kyrie sat down at the piano that was located in the large room in a far corner. She placed her fingers on the keys, pausing for a moment as she waited for Nero to sit down on the couch in the room. As soon as he seated her fingers began to glide over the keys. Something that required years of practice on her part.

Five years had passed since the day that Nero went in for his first operation. Kyrie had tried hard not to notice the changes that had been happening to Nero but the change in his personality was starting to be the one that was affecting her the most. His moods were so severe now it was hard to pretend anymore that nothing was happening to him. Kyrie continued to play as she watched Nero beginning to relax on the couch.

The sound from the piano was a soothing welcome from his everyday struggles. The music soon became an easy escape for Nero. It eventually became the only way for him to drown out the noises of his everyday life along with the noises from the memories always threatening to overtake him.

Nero laid his head against the back of the couch as he let his legs hang off the edge. He closed his eyes, allowing him more focus on the music. The notes flowed easily from the piano, each touch of the keys sounding like it was meant to. Nero began to relax as his mind was being taken away from him once more.

Kyrie's eyes flickered away from the keys for a brief moment to look at the boy on the couch. With here eyes locked on him, her fingers slipped on a key causing a loud noise that was clearly not a part of the intended music. Nero sat up quickly at the disturbance looking over at Kyrie who was now so focused on the piano it was almost as if it was the only thing in the room.

Kyrie focused one more on the ivory keys in front of her as her fingers slowly started the song again. Out of the corner of her eye she could see Nero lay his head back down on the back of the couch. His brown shaggy hair that now was streaked with white fell in front of his eyes. Kyrie knew there was only a matter of time before his chestnut hair disappeared completely to be replaced by this bright white. Kyrie's heart ached as she remembered the kids at school. It was becoming common for the kids in their grade to tease Nero since it wasn't exactly normal for a thirteen year old to have white in their hair. With the change in his hair came the change in his eyes. The emerald eyes that she was so used to look at everyday were slowly fading. Now when she looked at him a pair of dark blue eyes would meet hers.

Nero continued to lay on the couch unmoving as he listened to her play, letting the music flow into him. It was the only time her could rest, when he was listening to Kyrie play for him. There was something about the way her delicate fingers made the music sound that helped him for a brief moment in his day forget about everything. An unspoken agreement had formed between the two of them. Everyday after school they would come into this room and she would play the piano without saying a word to him. She did this to help in and partly because she hoped that the boy she used to know would eventually come back through this. The boy who used to laugh, play and fully be there for her would come back to her and she would no longer have to see the boy who walked around in a sullen state and only talked when he wanted to. Even then when he spoke it was with an attitude that she had never seen in anyone their age.

All Kyrie knew was that he was this way because of the procedures he went through every few months. In between the operations check-ups were required. Kyrie didn't know what went on at these operations or appointments that came after but Nero came home each time with his arm in a bandage. The last time was the worst for her when he came home looking to have a sickly yellow tint to his skin as it stretched tightly around his bones. He looked better now but all that meant to Kyrie was that the next time he went in he would come home in a worse condition.

It had been three months since that operation. There was no longer a bandage covering his arm. When the bandage came off though Nero resorted to wearing long sleeves on his shirts or to jackets even in the hot summer months. Kyrie looked over at Nero letting her playing slow down as she did so. This time she was more aware of the keys beneath her fingers as she continued to look at him. She stopped playing completely as she tested to make sure that Nero was asleep. The only movement coming from him was the slow rise and fall of his chest.

Kyrie walked across the wooden floor barefoot, her light footsteps barely making any noise as she made her way over to the couch. She sat down on the empty spot on the couch next to him. The couch sank in with her weight moving Nero's position the slightest. She thought she could she his eyes pinch closed even tighter as she moved on the couch. Kyrie didn't move to make sure that Nero was asleep. With a few seconds without a movement she placed her fingers lightly on the sleeve of his shirt. After a few more seconds passed she rolled the cloth up passed his elbow. With the skin on his forearm exposed she began to take in every detail of the pink, purple and white scars of skin. Each color representing time that had passed after each incision. Some of the scars were raised his on his skin from the deeper cuts. There was a hesitation in her fingers as she let her hand hover above his arm. Static flowed between them and the hairs on his arm slowly began to raise to meet her finger tips. Her fingers closed the gap between them.

A shock ran through his body as the dream was quickly pulled away from his mind. The images were quickly replaced with the calming black that he had surrounded him earlier. Even in this state Nero was semi-conscience of the tings that were happening to him. A small pulsing started to beat in his demonic arm. It was the only part of his body that he was starting to feel. The pulse was erratic at first, his body startled by the feeling of it. The pulse soon slowed to a normal pace.

The scene behind his eyes stayed black as he kept his attention focused on the slow pulse he could feel under his skin. A welcome from the memories that had been pulling him under. Nero concentrated on each slow beat, each one a small throb under his skin. With each beat he hoped to regain any other feeling, wanting the nothingness that enveloped his senses to finally disappear. Small prickles began to run up and down the length of his arm. They seemed to have a point of concentration on his forearm as he tried to focus on the feeling growing under his skin.

Just as quickly as the feeling came to him it was abruptly pulled away from him as he fell right back into his dream where it had left off.

Nero's hand was gripped tightly around Kyrie's wrist. Her eyes were wide with panic as Nero stared at her with a fierceness she had never seen from him. Her fingers began to tremble as they started to turn a deep red.

"You're hurting me." Her words were barely a whisper but Nero knew what they were. His hand let go of its rough grasp. He pulled down the fabric of his shirt to once again cover his arm. Kyrie leaned away from him, her eyes too afraid to meet his.

Nero sat there watching her retreat into herself. Nero continued to look at her as he waited for an apology to come out of her.

"You weren't asleep were you?" She continued to keep her eyes on the old French floral pattern on the couch as she asked the question.

"No, I wasn't." Nero replied sharply as he stood up form the couch. Kyrie's eyes shot upward to see if he would leave the room.

"I…I just wanted to see. You never talk about what goes on when you leave here for those operations or even they they're about. Ever since that first time, I have been worried about you. Why wont you talk to me?" Her voice broke as she spoke but she continued on until she finally finished asking him what she had been wanting to.

Nero looked down at Kyrie who's eyes were shinning in the bright light of the room, the tears slowly starting to escape her eyes.

"We've had this conversation a dozen times. Why do you do it when you know I wont give you an answer? When you know that every time you end up more upset than the last. Why do you do it to yourself?" The agitation was clear in his voice as he looked down at her.

"Because its obvious you've changed and I just want to know what it is that is changing you." Kyrie was standing now just a few feet away from Nero. The fire for wanting answers was burning through her as the tears were beginning to dry.

"Just drop it." Nero's voice was loud but suppressed as he spoke through a clenched jaw and the grinding of his teeth. His fingers curled into fists at his sides, his nails digging crescent shapes into the flesh of his palm.

"At least answer me this, do you still scream when you're there?" The question caught Nero off guard. It was so unusual from her normal onslaught of questions. He knew she was talking about the first day that he went in and how Kyrie had waited for him there only to hear his screams coming from behind one of the doors. How even then he was more concerned for her than himself.

His anger began to dissolve as his hands fell to his sides. She continued to look up at him, letting their eyes meet. "No, I don't scream anymore." It was the only true answer he could give her. He didn't scream anymore, no matter how much pain there was. In his mind there was always that fear that somehow Kyrie would hear him going through that pain. It was unbearable to him to think of her being there, that she would hear those things. He wanted in that moment to tell her that it didn't hurt, that the scars on his arm were nothing. He couldn't bring himself to lie to her though. It was better to just say nothing.

A small smile played at Kyrie's lips. All of her hope that he would one day be the boy that she knew so well was coming back to her. She stepped closer to him, her eyes gazing up at his with intensity. "If I'm close enough, I can see small flecks of green still left in your eyes." She moved even closer to him letting her chest press against his.

"What are you doing?" Nero whispered as her eyes stayed locked onto his.

"I just want to memorize them like this before they're completely changed too." They stood together like that, completely still for minutes. Nero could feel the hover of her hand as it lingered in the air above his arm.

"Its ok." He whispered to her as he closed his eyes. That was all she needed to hear from him as both her hands delicately lifted up the sleeve to his shirt once more. This time he have her time to look at all the imperfections of his arm knowing that this would be the only time he would let her do so. He opened his eyes back up as he watched her carefully. Her fingers hesitated again even with the open invitation. The flicker behind her eyes disappeared as her fingers touched his arm once more.

The dream was ripped away from him once more. The veil of darkness once more enveloping him. The feeling of the pulse in his arm was back immediately. The tingle under his skin was there in his arm, concentrated more to one spot on his forearm of his Devil Bringer. The feeling of fire licking away at his skin was more dominant to that one area as the tingle was more of a background feeling. The feeling stayed in his arm, the only place in his body that he could feel anything still. His whole arm pulsed but that one area just above his wrist seemed to be burn with an intensity as if he skin really were on fire.

He would have thought that the pain would be unbearable but there was a comfort to him that Nero didn't know could exist. The dream didn't seem to be coming back to him. Nero began to let his mind rest as the burning in his arm started sending warmth through the rest of his body slowly. He finally let his mind start to rest as the pulse in his arm stayed steady along with the other feelings starting to come back to him.


End file.
